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President Joe Biden’s first debate performance sent Democrats into a tailspin.
The 81-year-old president’s raspy voice, trailing thoughts, and nonsensical statements launched immediate speculation about whether he could — and should — be replaced at the top of the ticket. On Tuesday, Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett became the first sitting lawmaker to publicly urge Biden to drop out of the race, saying that he did not come to that decision “lightly.”
But while the Democratic Party has an abundance of young talent, any ambitious politician who comes forward to say Biden should step aside immediately risks ostracization. That may be why, for the time being, only a single sitting Democrat has spoken out about replacing the president at the top of the ticket. Here’s what they’ve been saying instead.
Vice President Kamala Harris
Unsurprisingly, Vice President Kamala Harris has been seen as the most obvious choice to replace Biden given the fact that Democrats elected her alongside the president in 2020. But so far, the vice president has given no indication that she would usurp the Democratic nomination from her boss. In the hours after Biden’s performance, she defended Biden’s performance, saying “Yes, it was a slow start. That's obvious to everyone. I'm not going to debate that point. I'm talking about the choice in November.”
Harris traveled to Las Vegas the day after the debate, and since then, she’s continued to defend the Biden administration.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
The vice president’s relatively low approval ratings and her unwillingness to break from the president have left some to speculate whether Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer would take a crack at running for the White House. Whitmer serves as a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, which gives her a vast network of connections to Democratic power brokers.
But instead of subverting the president, Whitmer has chosen to double down on her public support for the president. On Monday, Politico reported that she told Biden campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon that Michigan was now out of reach for Democrats, while insisting she wasn’t behind calls for her to replace the president on the ticket.
Whitmer forcefully pushed back against that report on X on Monday.
“Anyone who claims I would say that we can’t win Michigan is full of s***,” she said. “Let’s go.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom
Newsom is without a doubt one of the most ambitious and audacious Democrats in the country. As mayor of San Francisco, he earned national attention when he performed same-sex weddings in 2004, long before Democrats openly embraced marriage equality. As governor of California, he weathered a 2021 recall attempt. He is also one of the few Democrats willing to go on Fox News to defend Democratic policies.
Newsom was one of the Democrats in the spin room after the debate. Since then, he’s put his energy into collecting donations for Biden, raising at least $1 million on social media as of Saturday.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
The secretary of transportation is the youngest of the potential Democratic replacements. He ran against Biden and Harris in the 2020 Democratic primary and narrowly won the Iowa caucus. Shortly afterward, he dropped out, endorsed Biden, and regularly appeared on Fox News to defend Biden’s record.
After that, Biden nominated him to be the secretary of transportation, making him the first openly gay cabinet secretary to be confirmed by the Senate. In that position, he’s been in charge of implementing the president’s mammoth bipartisan infrastructure law, as well as handling the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and bridge collapses.
Being a cabinet secretary limits what he can say in a partisan capacity. But on Monday, he traveled to North Carolina, a crucial swing state, to break ground on a passenger rail route.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore
Wes Moore overwhelmingly won his race in 2022 to become the first Black governor of Maryland despite being a political neophyte. A Rhodes Scholar and a veteran, Moore has an impressive record and there’s already been buzz about a future run for president. In May, he traveled with Biden and Harris to Philadelphia to launch their initiative to reach Black voters.
Since the debate, he’s leaned into defending Biden’s record. Over the weekend, he traveled to the swing state of Wisconsin, where he took shots at Trump’s offensive debate line about immigrants “taking Black jobs.”
“My Black job lets me campaign for @JoeBiden,” he posted on X. “That’s why I’m here in Wisconsin telling folks that today in America Black small businesses are starting up at the fastest rate in 30 years, Black unemployment has hit historic lows, and Black child poverty has been cut in half.”
