Could Biden be replaced as election candidate? The Democrats waiting in the wings

It’s a been a tough week for US President Joe Biden.

Forced to defend himself against questions about his age and mental acuity, the President inadvertently mixed up two world leaders, referring to Egyptian leader Abdul Fattah al-Sisi as the “president of Mexico”. This came just days after mixing up the names of the French president and former German chancellor with their predecessors, despite them being long dead.

Despite the ongoing rumours of US voters and Democratic Party officials becoming increasingly concerned about his performance and his approval rankings, and the poll conducted by AP last year in which three-quarters of the American public think President Biden is too old to serve another term, including 69 per cent of Democrats, he has been performing well in the primaries.

In the New Hampshire primary, where he as a write-in candidate, Biden won 63.9 per cent of Democrats’ votes, beating Dean Phillips’s 19 percent and Marianne Williamson’s 4 per cent. In contrast, Republican voters in the state could not muster the same level of enthusiasm in their race, as Donald Trump won with 54.3 per cent of the vote and his challenger Nikki Haley 43.2 per cent – a considerably tighter race.

Since then, President Biden has won the the Nevada primary with 89.4 per cent of the vote and the South Carolina primary with 96.2 per cent of votes. Williamson came third in the Nevada primary with 3 per cent of the votes behind ‘none of these candidates’, which took 5.6 per cent of votes, and came second in the South Carolina primary with 2.1 per cent of votes. Phillips was not on the Nevada ballot, and he came third in South Carolina with 1.7 per cent of votes.

As the election rumbles ever closer, i takes a look at the Democrats waiting in the wings who could eventually lead the party.

Who could replace him as Democratic candidate?

At this point, it is not likely that he could be replaced as the candidate – his performance in the primaries so far suggests he will win the delegates necessary to clinch the nomination, particularly as his competitors are not on the ballot in every state.

If for some reason President Biden chose to drop out of the race, Democrats could pick another nominee at the convention in Chicago this August. If that should happen, here are some potential candidates to step in.

Kamala Harris

The incumbent Vice-President is more than 20 years junior to President Biden would be an obvious choice, and the first female president of the United States.

But Vice-President Harris continues to face the challenge of getting Americans on board to support her, and she is more unpopular than the President she serves.

According to a poll conducted by Five Thirty Eight Project, as of 19 January, 53.5 per cent of Americans disapproved of the Vice-President, and only 37.5 percent approved.

There are rumours she is biding her time for the 2028 election.

While attending a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in September, she told reporters “Joe Biden is going to be fine” so a quick succession “is not going to come to fruition”.

However, when pressed on whether she would step up to the role should it be necessary, she said: “Let us also understand that every vice-president – every vice-president – understands that when they take the oath, they must be very clear about the responsibility they may have to take over the job of being President.

“I’m no different.”
During President Biden’s colonoscopy in November 2021, power was transferred to Vice-president Harris during the procedure, so she already has experience stepping in.

Pete Buttigieg

The Transport Secretary could be a strong contender for the top job.

The first openly gay candidate from a major party placed in the top tier of Democratic primary candidates before winning the Iowa caucus and subsequently dropping out in March 2020.

Prior to this, his only political experience had been as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana between 2012 and January this year.

Before then, he had served as a US Navy intelligence officer in the Afghan war.

He was the first millennial to run for the White House, and would have been the youngest President to take office had he succeeded in his campaign.

Last month, a Granite State poll taken by the University of New Hampshire during its primaries showed Secretary Buttigieg had a 69 per cent approval rating among Democrats compared with 49 per cent for President Biden.

But last month Secretary Buttigieg told Punchbowl.news he doesn’t have “any plans to do any job besides the one I’ve got. It’s taking 110 per cent of my attention and energy”, he said, responding to the question of whether he might run for President in 2024, or compete for the Michigan Senate seat that will become available next year.

Gavin Newsom

The Democratic Governor of California is said to be prepping for a massive 2028 election campaign.

In November, he made a financial donation to a Democratic mayoral candidate in Charleston, South Carolina – 2,800 miles from his home in Sacramento – in a move to raise his national profile. He also invested $10m (£8.2m) into a new political action committee designed to spread the Democratic party’s message in Republican-held states.

But he has publicly denied that he has sights on President Biden’s job – this year, anyway.

“I’m rooting for our President and I have great confidence in his leadership,” he told Fox News earlier this year.

Gretchen Whitmer

Regarded as a rising star in the party, ‘Big Gretch’ has served as Governor of Michigan since 2019. She previously served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 and in the Michigan Senate from 2006 to 2015.

She won her second term as governor in the November 2022 midterms, defeating Trump-backed Republican Tudor Dixon by more than 10 points.

She was first elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2000 and made headlines after delivering a speech on abortion rights in 2013, where she revealed that she had been sexually assaulted as a young woman. In 2020, a far-right plot was uncovered by the FBI to kidnap Governor Whitmer.

JB Pritzker

The billionaire Governor of Illinois is widely regarded as serious White House contender, and is currently accelerating development at Think Big America, a nonprofit committee that fights abortion restrictions and political extremism.

He is a vocal supporter of President Biden and in recent months has stepped up his advocacy for the Democratic Party. At an event for Wisconsin Democrats, he argued that President Biden’s age should be valued as an asset.

His communications director Christina Amestoy told NBC News: “The governor is extremely happy being governor right now.

“He’s looking at what’s at stake. He sees himself as having a role.”

Josh Shapiro

The Governor of Pennsylvania grew up in that state, and after graduating and putting himself through law school, was elected Chairman of the Board of Commissioners in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s third-largest county.

Met with an $10mn budget deficit, he took steps to combat the heroin epidemic sweeping the state, and helped usher in the legislation that enabled the first LGBTQ+ couples in Pennsylvania marry.

Ro Khanna

A staunch supporter of President Biden, the Indian-American congressman was recently supporting the President in Columbia, South Carolina – home of Trump primary challenger Nikki Halley – and the location of next pivotal Republican primary on 24 February.

He told MSNBC that he would be going out to states such as Michigan and Nevada to make the case for President Biden, warning “the country will go backwards if Trump is elected”.

In an interview with CNN last month, Ms Khanna said President Biden “has delivered for working and middle-class Americans. Donald Trump’s economy lost jobs – was just tax cuts for the very wealthy”.

He previously served as the deputy assistant secretary in the United States Department of Commerce under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2011.

Cory Booker

The former mayor of Newark and junior senator from New Jersey announced his intention to run in the Presidential election of 2020, but failed to qualify for the sixth Democratic debate.

He is known for his social media engagement and participation in public events, and has earned a reputation has a hands-on mayor.

In 2012 he saved a woman from a house fire and suffered second-degree burns on his hands and smoke inhalation.

He was dubbed “super-mayor,” by the Toronto Sun, and made many appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show – including one with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who donated $100m to the Newark’s education fund.

Biden’s recent gaffes

The latest of President Biden’s gaffes marks the third time in a week where he has mixed up global leaders.

Robert K Hur, special counsel on the classified files investigation that were discovered in a Washington office space, said the president was a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.

However, it is worth noting President Biden’s likely opponent in the 2024 race, Donald Trump, is only three years younger, and has a history of making similar, if not worse, mistakes on the campaign trail.

Recently, Mr Trump appeared to conflate his opponent in the Republican nomination race, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, with Nancy Pelosi, the 52nd Speaker of the House of Representatives.

At a campaign rally in January, Mr Trump said Ms Haley was in charge of security at the Capitol on 6 January 2021, despite Ms Haley holding the role of US ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump Administration and resigning from the post in 2018.

Ms Haley has said both Mr Trump and Mr Biden are “grumpy old men” in a campaign ad.