Democrats exhaled.
Minutes after President Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race on Sunday, Democrats said they were relieved by the decision. The stalemate over Biden’s future, they said, was horrible for their party and was putting them in even deeper jeopardy of losing in November to former President Trump.
“F—ing finally,” said one Democratic strategist frustrated over how long the battle went on in recent weeks as Democrat after Democrat in Congress called for Biden to step down after a disastrous debate performance underscored deep concerns about the 81-year-old president’s age and fitness for office.
“The last three weeks couldn’t have been any worse for us,” the strategist said.
Another strategist close to the campaign said the move was best for Democrats. “Yesterday we couldn’t see the light. Today, there’s optimism and hope for our party,” this strategist said following Biden’s exit and endorsement of Vice President Harris as his party’s nominee.
Donors who had told Biden’s campaign they would not chip in any more money said they were back in the game.
“Let’s go,” said one major bundler who was looking for Biden to hand the reins to Harris. “Nothing against the President. He’s a hero. But things were spiraling and now we have a chance.”
Another donor expressed some uncertainty about Harris at the top of the ticket but added that at least Democrats could unite behind her.
“I feel a lot better than I did this morning,” the donor said. “This morning, we were spiraling, now we can all at least breathe a sigh of relief.”
Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, who worked for Harris until last year, acknowledged the relief for the party but also said it was mixed with deep sadness.
“People feel personally sad for him,” Simmons said. “People love Joe Biden. He’s one of the most beloved political figures and if he was 10 years younger, he’d win this election.”
Democratic strategist Christy Setzer took it a step further. “Let’s be clear: This was a murder by his fellow Democrats, not a suicide (by debate).”
“We could’ve gotten past the debate performance but not the month of his party kicking the crap out of him every day. Joe Biden has been a transformative President and deserved so, so much better. The best thing everyone who pushed him out can do now is work 10 times harder to elect Kamala Harris.”
It’s unclear whether Harris will have a completely clean path to be the Democratic nominee. In the hours after Biden’s decision, a number of Democrats came out to endorse her. But other key figures, from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) to former President Obama, did not.
Pelosi and a number of other Democrats, including Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), have called for an open race to replace Biden. Pelosi has argued this would strengthen Harris, a fellow Californian, should she be the nominee.
But there also have been doubts in the past among some in the party about how strong of a candidate Harris would be against Trump.
Simmons, the former Harris staffer, said the vice president is in the best position to defeat Trump. And he said Trump should be nervous.
“I’m sure he’s worried about it. I think he thought he was done with prosecutors especially since one of his biggest cases was dismissed. But now he’s facing another prosecutor in America’s biggest court,” Simmons said.