Who could have guessed a debate with an absolutely unexpected and shocking performance by the President just a month ago, would have accelerated forces so dramatically, so historically, that we now, for the first time in history, have a Black woman as the standard bearer for the upcoming Presidential Election.
But Sunday, at 11:46 a.m. Denver time, as the country was doing summer things, and, perhaps, not focusing, but wondering how the Political palace intrigue would play out, news landed like a lighting bolt. President Joe Biden announced he was “standing down,” leaving the race. Almost immediately, he endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, as his chosen successor.
On simple letter head, ‘Joseph R. Biden,’ top-center, the date July 21, 2024, directly below, the President announced his inten-tions. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
The news, while shocking, was not entirely surprising. The list of Democratic members of Congress calling for him to step away, one of the first being Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, was growing by the day. Despite the President’s announced plans to stay in the race, it seemed only a matter of time before the dam would burst.
The President’s withdrawal from the race was received with enthusiasm by long time state Republican leader, Norman Anderson. Now retired, Anderson stands as one of the most accomplished and respected political leaders in state history. She served as her party’s leader in both the House and Senate of the state legislature.
“Kamala can do it,” said Anderson, announcing her immediate support for the Vice President. The woman many call ‘Madam Republican,’ Anderson has not been quiet about her disdain for ex-president Donald Trump. “As I’ve said, he will destroy the Constitution. In fact, he doesn’t even care about it or even ever read it.” Anderson, who said she did not leave the party, rather that it was the party that left her, said she wishes Republicans would see Trump the way she sees him.
Anderson wants Harris to offer plans for the budget and national debt. But she’s also hopeful that Harris works for immigration reform and banish the Republican’s plan for mass immigration of the undocumented. Couples and families, she worries, will be torn apart under Trump’s policies. “They’ll be jerked right out of the house and gone. Trump is a threat,” she said.
When former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb heard the announcement,he said it both shocked and saddened him. “Joe Biden’s a good man, an honest man and a man who made a very difficult decision that was both in the best interests of the country and party,” he said. But, Webb said, he’s glad the President will finish his term.
“He’s got issues in front of him,” Webb said, listing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, dealing with inflation and doing the job of President. “I think the President” who is a personal friend of the Webbs, “has done what’s best for him, his family and the country.” Denver’s former chief executive also praised Biden for choosing the Vice President as his successor. “Joe Biden felt that she could do the job. Now she has to earn the job.”
Former Thornton Democratic legislator Joe Salazar is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention set for August 19th in Chicago. Like other delegates, he said the talk about Sunday’s announcement just kept getting louder. Biden’s decision, he said, was courageous.
“(It was) One of the bravest decisions any president ever made. He will go down in history as one of the most positively consequential presidents in history.” “I am behind Vice President Harris.” Harris, said Salazar, can beat Trump and he knows it.
President Biden’s decision was both “emotional and tactical,” said political scientist and historian, Rob Preuhs. Citing Biden’s half century in public service, the Metropolitan State University-Denver political science professor, said the transition to the Vice President as flag bearer should go smoothly.
“You don’t have to change your messaging. You can focus on policies that have been put in place over the last four years,” Preuhs said. Immigration, an area that Biden put her in charge of, could be used against her. But Democrats, citing the Republican blueprint that calls for the mass deportation—something the ex-president underscored in his 93-minute acceptance speech—can be fired right back at the Trump-Vance ticket.
Preuhs also wondered if Trump, who dedicated several years to casting doubts on President Obama’s citizenship and legitimacy to serve as President, will use similar racial tactics on the Vice President and the next Black person who could be President.
Following the President’s announcement, several mem- bers of Colorado’s Congressional delegation released statements praising the President’s decision and thanking him for a life of selfless public service.
“America is a better, stronger country because of President Biden’s decades of public service and dedication to the American Dream,” said Bennet. “We owe President Biden a debt of gratitude that we may never be able to repay. We may not know what comes next, but by passing the torch to a new standard bearer President Biden has again given us the chance to beat Donald Trump and give our children the future they deserve.”
Bennet was joined by fellow Senator John Hickenlooper, Governor Jared Polis, Congresswoman Brittaney Petterson and Congressman Joe Neguse also thanked President Biden for his courage and decades of public service.
Vice President Harris also issued her own statement on the President’s announcement. “On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as president of the United States and for his decades of service to our country,” she said in a statement released Sunday.
“His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many presidents who have served two terms in office,” she said.
