Who could replace Biden? 5 Democrats who could step up

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers her State of the State address, Jan. 24, 2024, at the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich. Whitmer denied a report that she had called President Joe Biden's campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon to say that Michigan was no longer winnable for the president. Whitmer in a statement Monday, July 1, insisted that Biden could still win the state in the wake of a debate performance by Biden that has left some Democrats concerned about his campaign.

After a poor performance in a head-to-head presidential debate with Donald Trump last week, President Joe Biden said he wants to move forward.

“When you get knocked down, you get back up,” Biden said while reading from a teleprompter at a rally Friday at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, as Axios reported. “Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But ... I know how to tell the truth.”

However, his words haven’t eased the panic rising in Democratic Party circles, prompting news outlets like The New York Times, The New Yorker, Chicago Tribune and others, to call on Biden to step aside.

If Biden changes his mind and steps aside — at the behest of his family or the Democratic Party, or all on his own — who would replace him?

As the Deseret News reported, Biden could leave it up to convention delegates to pick his replacement, or he could endorse someone.

The candidate would have to be someone who has been vetted for several elected offices and has plenty of name recognition, said Jeremy Pope, a political science professor at Brigham Young University.

“It would also need to be someone who could step in at a moment’s notice,” he said. There’s no clear front-runner, but here are five potential options.

Vice President Kamala Harris

As the vice president, Kamala Harris would be the obvious choice. But her approval ratings, lower than Biden’s, don’t solve the Democrats’ problems. Throughout her term, she has remained loyal to Biden, even after his debate performance, which she dissed as “a bad night for Biden,” at a rally in Las Vegas Saturday. The “stakes of the race couldn’t be higher” in the 2024 election, she added.

Harris served as the San Francisco district attorney and as the attorney general of California before being elected as a U.S. senator in 2017. Harris launched a presidential campaign in 2020 but withdrew her bid before the start of Democratic primary elections.

In her current role, Harris has become the face of pro-abortion policy after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. She was tapped to fix the immigration crisis at the southern border, and then was criticized for saying the border was “secure” back in 2022, when the number of migrant crossings remained high.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan phoned a Biden official Friday night, a day after the presidential debate, and said she “hated” her name being floated on the list of potential candidates who could replace Biden, according to Politico. She also reportedly warned that Biden’s debate performance could cost him Michigan, but later denied making that statement. Whitmer, 52, said she is loyal to the president. Her focus appears to be on her upcoming memoir, “True Gretch,” set to release on July 9.

But that hasn’t stopped Democratic operatives from pitching her name. “How can you not love a governor who is affectionately called ‘Big Gretch’ by Detroit rappers, a governor who faced down a kidnap attempt (in 2020), and passed gun safety legislation in response,” said Chet Atkins, a former Democratic member of Congress from Massachusetts and now a lobbyist in Boston, in a blast email.

Whitmer was elected to the state House and Senate in Michigan in the early 2000s. After leaving office in 2015, she was briefly appointed as a prosecutor. During her two terms as governor, Whitmer, as a progressive Democrat, advocated for a pro-abortion ballot measure, favored bolstering Michigan’s manufacturing, and championed gun reform that included universal background checks, safe storage, and tax-free firearm safety equipment.

Gov. Gavin Newsom

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a surrogate for Biden, has denied holding aspirations to run for president, but he remains a potential candidate should the opportunity arise. Speaking to reporters on the spin room floor after the debate, this high-profile Democrat said the discussions about replacing Biden are “unhelpful and unnecessary.” He claimed that based on the substance of the arguments, Biden won the debate, according to The Hill. “We aren’t going to turn our backs because of one performance. What kind of party does that?” he added.

In an opinion piece published in The New York Times, television host Bill Maher, wrote, “Watching (Newsom) make the case against Mr. Trump in the pre-debate interviews, and defend Mr. Biden post-debate, reminded me: This guy is good at this.”

Maher admitted Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, carried “too much ‘California baggage,’” which the television host doesn’t approve of, “but the contrast to how he prosecutes the case against Mr. Trump and how Mr. Biden did couldn’t be clearer.” Maher characterized the California governor as “un-bullyable,” adding, “and that’s important against Mr. Trump.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg made his presidential aspirations public when he ran for president in 2020. When Biden won the presidency, Buttigieg was tapped to lead the Transportation Department, despite lacking the expertise to manage a federal agency. His prior experience includes a two-term mayorship in Indiana and chairing the Democratic National Committee in 2017.

During his tenure as a member of Biden’s cabinet, Buttigieg contended with the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and the Southwest Airlines’ fiasco dealing with tens of thousands of canceled flights last year. He was pushed into the spotlight following the Baltimore Bridge’s collapse and the safety crisis that unraveled at Boeing.

Buttigieg, like other high-level Democrats, admitted “It wasn’t the debate I would have loved for us to have” in an interview with MSNBC. When asked if he would support the idea of replacing Biden on the 2024 ticket, he answered “no,” adding, “Joe Biden is our candidate and our president because he is the best person to lead this country forward.”

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, recalled a moment from the Democratic presidential debate in 2020, where he implied Biden was under the influence when remarking on marijuana policy “because marijuana in our country is already legal for privileged people.”

Booker’s mother told him off for accusing the U.S. vice president of doing such a thing. But during the debate’s commercial, Booker said Biden appreciated his thoughtfulness on the issue. Whether backstage or in front of the camera, the president is “always ridiculously kind.”

After being elected to the Senate in 2013, Booker launched his bid for president in 2020. But he rose as a national figure during his two terms as mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Last October, Sen. Mitt Romney, speaking at the E2 Summit in Park City, said he urged both Booker and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia to run against Biden.

Who else?

The list of other potential picks include governors like Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Wes Moore of Maryland. Other picks could include congressional lawmakers like Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio or Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who made a short-lived run for the presidency this year. It’s fun to speculate about former first lady Michelle Obama and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s potential candidacy even though both of them have indicated they aren’t interested.