Who could replace Joe Biden?

The Democrats’ “replacement bench,” in case something extraordinary happens to Joe Biden, hasn’t been in the media spotlight for months.The brutal crash landing of the US President against Donald Trump on television has changed that abruptly. 130 days before the election, there are open calls for the 81-year-old to step down for health reasons because he has become a burden on the party and to pave the way for a younger alternative at the party convention in Chicago in mid-August.

However, as was the case in the primary campaign, no one of rank, stature or potential in the party has yet had the courage to throw his/her hat into the ring and possibly get a bloody nose against Trump on November 5th.

This is because younger talents, almost all of whom are governors in the states, wie Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan), Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania), Jared Polis (Colorado) oder J. B. Pritzker (Illinois) have not been in the business for long, let alone known nationwide. Whitmer has made a name for herself in the automobile metropolis of Detroit and among women as a figurehead for the right to abortion.

International appeal

The only person who is considered somewhat storm-tested on the national stage is Gavin Newsom. The governor of California (56) usually has the highest approval ratings among Democrats in surveys. He embodies the vision of a modern America, was a baseball player and sells himself as a smart representative of a liberal political stance. When traveling abroad, he acts like a statesman.

He recently met with China’s head of state Xi Jinping,Newsom is politically much further to the left than Biden. But elections in America are won in the middle. His biggest handicap: Newsom has dyslexia, a severe reading disability. Although he supported Biden until the end, seeing him as a father figure, party insiders believe that he is already drawing the line for 2028. If Newsom stepped in for Biden at the last minute, he would be putting himself at considerable risk of sustaining lasting scars.

Names that are automatically mentioned in the theoretical Biden-retiring-early context are those of some of his cabinet members. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The 42-year-old is smart, confident, multilingual, rhetorically skilled and, although a war-hardened veteran of the US Navy, an icon for homosexuals. He is raising two children with his husband. Buttigieg was Biden’s rival in the 2020 race for the presidential candidacy. Gina Raimondo,the Minister of Economic Affairs, who is particularly influential in China policy, is said to have what it takes to take on the top job.

Unpopular Vice President

The most obvious solution remains: Vice President Kamala Harris,The 59-year-old should, under normal circumstances, be Biden’s natural successor. But her poll ratings have been below Biden’s (precarious) since she took office in 2021. In the Democratic Party and in the Washington political bubble, the prejudice has taken hold that she has no profile, no vision of America.

Harris, the first black woman and the first American with Indian roots to hold office, has been given significantly more responsibility in recent months on foreign policy issues (Ukraine/Israel) and abortion after a long dry spell. former California Attorney General she would be a political offer to young, ethnically diverse groups of voters. But she does not have the party behind her. That would be Former President’s wife Michelle Obama completely different. But the successful mother, author and entrepreneur detests Washington politics. She simply doesn’t want to.