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      ‘Oh thank God’: Democratic swing state voters feel relief after Biden drops out

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      For many Democratic swing state voters, Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election came as a relief.“Oh thank God,” said Cathy Gramze, a retired nurse who lives in the suburbs of Detroit. “My diagnosis has for a long time been that he cannot run again and I am not entirely sure that he should finish his term in office.”Gramze had worried about Biden’s fitness long before the debate. His 27 June performance merely confirmed what she had long feared. “A lot of the time he is the president we need, but some of the time he isn’t.”Kamala Harris, who Biden endorsed on Sunday and who has earned the endorsement of most prominent Democratic elected officials, “needs to be the presidential nominee”, Gramze said.For more than a year, voters across the political spectrum have been saying they feel Biden, who is 81 years old, is too old to run for re-election. Those anxieties crescendoed in the wake of his first debate with Donald Trump, in which Trump lied repeatedly about a range of issues and Biden struggled to push back or even answer questions coherently. Following the debate, more than 30 Democrats in Congress called on Biden to end his presidential campaign, with the powerful former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly ratcheting up the pressure on Biden to drop out of the race last week.In the last few weeks, polling has increasingly shown Biden lagging in critical swing states, with large majorities of Democratic party voters indicating they believe he should not renew his campaign. Recent national polls also show Trump losing to the vice-president, whose path to victory, like Biden’s, will involve winning the critical states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.Not only Democrats welcomed the announcement. Dan Rose, who has long supported Trump, said he was glad Biden pulled out of the race.“He doesn’t have the caliber we need in a president,” said Rose, who said he worries about the economy. Rose, who is from De Pere, Wisconsin, said he will still support Trump but felt Biden had made the right choice in ending his campaign. “The Democrats might be in a pickle now,” he added.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIf the Democrats are in a pickle, few grassroots party members expressed concern following Biden’s announcement.“How courageous and brave of him to do that,” said Chris Fleming, who is retired and volunteers for a group organizing rural Democratic voters in Wisconsin. This year, Fleming’s husband had $15,000 in student debt cancelled by the Biden administration – which she said left her feeling grateful for Biden. “I have nothing but respect for him,” she said.Jake Knashishu, an attorney from Decatur, Georgia, said Biden’s departure from the race “relieved, for the most part, concerns about him being able to really present himself as an effective alternative to Trump”. Biden’s withdrawal gives Democrats a better shot at Georgia, Knanishu said.He had spoken with a neighbor on Sunday who “saw Joe Biden as kind of Ruth Bader Ginsburg 2.0 – holding on and refusing to pass the torch and maintain stability”, said Knashishu. “She just feels relieved, because she knows that at least we’re not going to have that happen again.” More

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      As Biden departs, Trump set to face questions over his age and acuity

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      With 78-year-old Donald Trump now certain to face a Democratic candidate younger than he is, the Republican could have the tables turned on him over the questions of age and mental agility that he often sidestepped while Joe Biden was his opponent.The age gap between Trump and any of his likely Democrat opponents – Kamala Harris, 59; Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, 52; Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, 51 – could make him the sole focus of voters’ desire for a generational handover of power.And with Biden’s often stumbling public appearances – and especially his disastrous debate – now a thing of the past, there is likely to be a fresh focus on Trump’s mental acuity and his frequently rambling, confused campaign speeches.Last month, for example, Trump got the name of his own doctor wrong. Previously he has made high-profile campaign trail gaffes, in which he seemed to think Barack Obama was still president and mistook his arch Republican rival Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi.Nearly 60% of US voters said last month that Biden should “definitely” or “probably” be replaced, while Trump’s favorability rating had risen to 40% since his hush-money conviction and the attempt on his life eight days ago. Harris’s favorability sits at around 39%.Biden’s departure from the ticket upends several aspects of Republican’s calculations, including that Trump the felon will now possibly have to debate Harris the former prosecutor in September – if she receives the nomination.The vice-president proved her debating skills in 2019 when she delivered a highly personal attack on Biden on the issue of race that he later described as “hurtful” and chilled relations between the Biden-Harris camps before she was named vice-president.Political commentator Anthony Michael Kreis posted on Twitter/X soon after Biden’s announcement: “I can’t believe the GOP is running an old guy for president. Yikes.”Trump’s reaction to his recent assassination attempt – pumping his fist and mouthing “Fight, fight, fight!” – has been full of vigor and helped unify his Republican party behind him and after his brush with death, he vowed to run a “unity” campaign.But that pledge dissolved on Saturday when he returned to disparaging Biden, Harris and the Democratic agenda and has been delivering his usual rants on the campaign trail, often laced with conspiracy theories and even a repeated and bizarre reference to a shark.After Biden announced he would abandon his re-election effort, Trump responded to Biden’s announcement, saying his now ex-rival was not fit to run for president and “not fit to serve”.Trump said last week he didn’t think that switching out Biden for Harris “would make much difference”, he told Bloomberg. “I would define her in a very similar [way] that I define him.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA pro-Trump Super Pac accused Harris on Sunday of being “in on” a cover-up of Biden’s “mental decline”, and characterized her as the driving force behind the administration’s policies.Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf says that Trump’s “less than gracious” response to Biden stepping down is something Democrats will hope continues as a successor to Biden emerges. “Trump is reverting to type, Biden is out of the picture, and Trump is the only one who can seize defeat from the jaws of victory.“Without having Biden as his opponent, and calling him ‘Sleepy Joe’, who is he going to rail against? How he attacks a woman is very different but you can already tell from the way he attacked Biden on Sunday that he’s not thinking clearly. His vitriol has taken over again.“Democrats will be able to use Harris as an offensive chess piece in the suburbs of the country, women’s right to chose and reproductive freedom, and hope that Trump screws up by overreacting so they can accuse him of bring incapable of controlling himself because of his age,” Sheinkopf said, “and it becomes a different race.”Read more about Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 election:

      Joe Biden drops out and endorses Kamala Harris

      Democrats praise Biden and Republicans go on the offense

      Who will replace Biden? How does the process work?

      A look back at Joe Biden’s life in politics More

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      Biden withdrawal throws spotlight on to role of Democratic delegates

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      It’s been more than 50 years since delegates to a Democratic national convention haven’t known their nominee as they walked through the door. Now, in the wake of Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday not to seek re-election, there’s a mad dash.Delegates are due to convene in Chicago on 19 August, and while the Democratic party seems to be coalescing around Kamala Harris, there’s no guarantee that she will be the nominee, and others could still throw their name into contention.But just a few hours after Biden’s announcement, Google documents were circulating asking delegates to pledge their support for Harris.Jonathan Padilla, a delegate from California, said he could stand for things to be a hair less mad.“I don’t want to be rushed into something,” Padilla said. “I do want to have deliberation. There’s a lot of frustration in the party, and I think having a process to talk to people from the campaign and to the candidate or people around her is necessary … to help us be unified in November.”Delegates are, by and large, local volunteers expected to spend thousands of dollars to fly to Chicago and attend the convention. It’s often viewed as a reward for activism and dedication, but it’s typically a far less consequential role than it might be next month.One delegate who isn’t yet old enough to drink expressed his mounting anxiety about how things are unfolding and how little has been predictable.“I’m a young, young person,” said the delegate, who requested anonymity because he feared being replaced by his state chair. “This is my first convention … And this is scary. It’s super anxiety-inducing, and crazy, and so much.”He said he was disappointed with the party for communicating poorly. “But at the same time, I don’t really feel like I have time to be disappointed. I feel like I just need to go knock on some doors.”In a “normal” election year, each state sends a number of delegates to the convention who have been pledged to a candidate. Those delegates are expected to vote for that candidate , on pain of being replaced by a state chair if their vote is wayward. With a majority going to one candidate, as has happened every election year since the 60s, that’s the end of it. A candidate is chosen.That bureaucratic, uncontroversial process has become an open question this year.In a call on Friday, before Biden dropped out, Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the party’s rules committee, likened the process of selecting a new presidential nominee to a mini-primary, with delegates as the voting audience. If Biden were to drop out, the process would be “scrunched into three weeks or something. It’d be incredibly tight.” The question at the convention would then become whether a consensus had formed on a new nominee.But that’s not exactly what’s happening right now. Instead, members of the California Democratic party have begun circulating a Google document asking delegates to pledge their support for Harris publicly and immediately. According to the list, shared with the Guardian by a delegate, 83 people had already signed on as of 9pm on Sunday. A second Google document is circulating to delegates with a form for pledging their support for Harris on a petition. Before the start of the convention, the Democratic National Committee is also planning to hold a virtual roll call , where a nominee would be chosen for legal purposes.View image in fullscreenOhio presents a problem. State law ostensibly requires parties to select their nominees by 9 August to appear on the ballot. Ohio lawmakers changed the law this year, but Democrats worry that the change won’t take effect in time.Padilla said he expected Harris to be the nominee, but some delegates are unhappy with the pressure for an early decision.“Vice-President Harris has the next 72 to 96 hours to mitigate any serious challenge,” he said. “And pending that, I think the party moves forward with the existing plan of the virtual roll call, which would mitigate risk at the convention, but it does probably leave a lot of delegates who would want a more transparent, deliberative process probably not happy.”Susan Herder, a Biden delegate from Minneapolis, said she thought Biden might be the best president of her lifetime, crediting him with turning the country around from Covid-19 and an economy in which the wealth gap had widened.After the debate and Biden’s exit, she’s ready to start campaigning for Harris. She said she intended to respect all voters and would listen to them to understand their points of view.“I am looking forward to the future,” she said in an email. “I hope everyone who is inclined will help us elect Kamala Harris. It’s a great way to defeat anxiety, fear and feelings of hopelessness. LET’S GET HER ELECTED!”While some delegates have only just come around to supporting someone other than Biden, others had been pushing for a change during the primaries, long before Biden’s disastrous debate.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“I think we were feeling like our message has become even stronger in the past few hours,” said Asma Mohammed, leader of Minnesota’s “uncommitted” movement and a Democratic convention delegate. “In the past few hours, there are people who have reached out and said, ‘You know, you’re right. We needed a better candidate.’”Mohammed has been calling for pushback against the Biden administration’s support for the war in Gaza, demanding a plank in the party platform that calls for a ceasefire, an arms embargo and a president ready to support that position. She believes Harris is more sympathetic to her position than Biden was, despite having taking $5m in campaign donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), but wants time to put the question to her.“We are delegates from our communities, and we are being asked to represent,” Mohammed said. “We can’t do that if we’re only being given one option.”A degree of dissent against the virtual roll call had percolated up from delegates days ago. Delegates Are Democracy and Welcome Party, two organizations formed in recent days to help inform confused delegates about their options, have been hosting webinars, airing concerns from delegates about a convoluted process.Chris Dempsey, head of Delegates Are Democracy, said he had been speaking with dozens of delegates who say the process is opaque and that party leaders have been gatekeeping information. He stressed that Delegates for Democracy had not been advocating for Biden to withdraw, but was instead trying to guide delegates, who are often volunteers without deep legal training, about the rules.“We think that conventions are essential at putting forward strong nominees,” Dempsey said. “We can beat Donald Trump in November. But we know that we need credible sources of information to share with delegates. We want to be a place that delegates, the public, the media can come and get good information about how the process works.”Kamarck noted in a call on Friday that delegates were already free to vote for whoever they wanted, more or less. The convention rules contain a loophole, she said.“The loophole is ‘in all good conscience’. That was added after the very, very difficult and bitter 1980 convention.”At that convention, Senator Ted Kennedy challenged President Jimmy Carter in primaries and then a floor fight. At the time, delegates could be removed by state leaders if they changed their vote. The conscience clause emerged after that, to prevent delegates from acting like robots, Kamarck said.“On the Democratic side, there is no such thing as Joe Biden releasing his delegates,” Kamarck said. “And Joe Biden gets this. I don’t know why the rest of the press doesn’t get it. Joe Biden said in his Nato press conference: ‘The delegates can do whatever the hell they want to do.’ And that is basically true.” The delegate rules require their votes to “reflect the sentiments” of those who elected them.That phrase had never really been tested, Kamarck said. Until now.Biden’s withdrawal has set off a hunt for delegates, Kamarck said. Again, in a “normal” process, that hunt would start on the floor of the convention, with potential candidates soliciting signatures on a petition to get on a nomination ballot, with no more than 50 from any one state and 300 delegates to make the ballot.“I suspect that somebody from the [Democratic National Committee (DNC)] or the state parties would organize delegate meetings that would be open to the public – because all DNC meetings are open to the public – for the candidates to come and talk to the delegates, because they’d have to win over the delegates,” she said.The nomination for vice-president would be based on a separate vote, she said on Friday. “I imagine what would happen is that whoever emerged as the frontrunner – and maybe there’d be two or three of them – would all name their vice-presidential candidates. But then we’d have an open vote for vice-president. It could get quite confusing. But this assumes, all of this assumes, that there’s a contest. And I for one am very skeptical that there’ll be much of a contest.” More

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      US election live updates: top Democrats back Kamala Harris as donations surge after Biden steps aside

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      All 50 state Democratic party chairs have endorsed Harris to be the party’s new presidential nominee to run against Republican nominee and former president, Donald Trump, Reuters reports.The chairs held a conference call after President Joe Biden announced he was stepping aside as the party’s candidate.“Following President Biden’s announcement, our members immediately assembled to unite behind the candidate who has a track record of winning tough elections, and who is a proven leader on the issues that matter to Americans: reproductive freedom, gun violence prevention, climate protection, justice reform, and rebuilding the economy,” said Ken Martin, president of the Association of State Democratic Committees, in a statement.When the Democratic National Convention meets in Chicago on 17 August, any nominee for president needs to secure the votes of 1,986 delegates. Joe Biden had more than 3,800 delegate pledged to vote for him after the primary season, but those people are now released from that obligation.Kamala Harris has, according to the latest count by website The Hill, already secured votes from 531 delegates, with the states of Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Florida and Louisiana all offering support.Deborah Cole is a Berlin correspondent for the GuardianGermany’s mainstream political class expressed respect and a degree of relief over president Joe Biden stepping aside in the race given deep-seated fears for Europe about a win by Donald Trump in November.The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who had only recently expressed strong support for Biden’s bid for a second term, praised Biden’s tough call, posting to social media to say “My friend Joe Biden has achieved a lot: for his country, for Europe, for the world. Thanks to him, transatlantic cooperation is close, Nato is strong and the US is a good and reliable partner for us. His decision not to run again deserves respect.”The vice-chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck, echoed the remarks, voicing “great esteem” for Biden and his choice to stand down. Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who opposes a second Trump term, also said he had “great respect” for Biden’s decision to end his lifetime of political service in January.However the CDU’s deputy parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei warned against “euphoria” about a potential run by Kamala Harris. He told public broadcaster RBB she had “failed” to develop her own strong profile in office, meaning the switch of candidate might fail to materialise as an “act of liberation” for the Democrats.Thomas Jäger, a political scientist at the University of Cologne, criticised the chaotic way Biden made the bombshell announcement, catching his party on the backfoot. “He let them run into an open knife … it almost seemed like an act of revenge” on those he felt had betrayed him, he said.Jäger told rolling news channel NTV he expected the “voices to grow louder” for Biden to step down immediately as president, with scrutiny of his fitness growing even stronger now that he’s tried to hand the baton to Harris.He said it was “very very optimistic” to believe that Harris as nominee would mark a “breakthrough” for the Democrats, given her weak profile and short time left to campaign.Our picture desk has put together this gallery of Joe Biden’s political career from when he first became a senator in 1972 to the present day.Reuters is reporting that US stock index futures climbed on Monday on the news that president Joe Biden was withdrawing from the election.The news agency quotes Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics saying “Donald Trump is still the solid favorite to win the presidential election, but betting markets suggest he has a slightly lower probability of beating Harris rather than Biden.“Harris will have a real chance to sell herself to the American public in the second presidential debate, currently scheduled for 10 September, although the Trump campaign could withdraw, not wanting to go toe-to-toe with the ex-attorney.”Reuters states that investers are braced for high volatility this week, and notes that shares of Trump-linked stocks such as Trump Media & Technology Group and software firm Phunware were up.CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein has said he thinks the Democratic party is likely to pick Kamala Harris, as “it’s just hard to imagine there is the stomach for a full-fledged second fight to bypass her”.He told the news network:
      The Democratic party has just gone through a very traumatic episode of nudging aside a president who they respect, who they think has been more successful than many expected, but whom the vast majority of them had come to believe cannot win and did not feel comfortable about re-nominating him for four more years.
      After going through all of that, it’s just hard to imagine there is the stomach for a full-fledged second fight to bypass her. Especially with the candidates who might have the best chance – like Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom – already indicating they won’t run against Harris.
      My colleague Joan E Greve has this explainer of what happens next in the nomination process now that Joe Biden has stepped aside …German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said Joe Biden’s decision to step aside showed he was willing to put his country’s interests above his own, Reuters reports.It quotes her saying “I have great respect for the US president’s decision. Biden has also done an incredible amount for transatlantic relations, and not just during his term as president.”Hugo Lowell reports for the Guardian on what the latest developments mean for the Donald Trump campaignDonald Trump is scrambling to pivot his campaign against Kamala Harris, with attack ads hitting her current record in office and her past in California, according to two sources familiar with the matter.The Trump campaign is viewing Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee, especially after Biden gave his endorsement, and started preparing opposition research dossiers against her in recent weeks. But as much as Biden’s withdrawal has left Democrats floundering ahead of its nominating convention next month, it has in many ways also flummoxed the Trump campaign.Trump-aligned political action committees such as MAGA Inc will unleash a wave of attacks against Harris, including a $5m television ad in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, casting her as the puppet master in the Biden administration.The Trump campaign was always set up to defeat one person – Biden – and Trump’s allies in recent weeks even pulled punches to keep the president viable as a candidate because they were so keen to run against him.The problem for the Trump campaign is that their best attack lines against Biden, on age and mental acuity, cannot be used and, if anything, they might be reprised by Democrats against Trump given he now will be the oldest candidate.And the millions of dollars that the Trump-aligned Pacs spent creating attack ads against Biden, including one as recently as last week that was centered around Biden’s slip-up at the presidential debate last month about military deaths, have gone to waste.Read more from Hugo Lowell here: Trump scrambles to pivot campaign to attack Kamala HarrisIsrael will be the strongest US ally in the Middle East regardless of who is elected president in November, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.Reuters reports that Netanyahu, speaking to reporters before flying to Washington, said that he would thank president Joe Biden for all he has done for Israel.The Biden administration’s continued provision of resources for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has caused the president to lose some support on the left of his party.If you would like something to listen to about the news that Joe Biden is to step aside from his re-election campaign and has instead endorsed vice-president Kamala Harris to challenge Donald Trump in November, then our Politics Weekly America have a podcast on the topic recorded overnight. Jonathan Freedland is joined by politics reporter Nikki McCann Ramírez to discuss what happens next. You can listen to it here.

      Joe Biden has withdrawn from his presidential re-election race and endorsed vice-president Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of their party’s ticket. The extraordinary decision upends American politics and plunges the Democratic nomination into uncertainty just months before the November election against Donald Trump – a candidate Biden has warned is an existential threat to US democracy. Biden said he planned to speak to the nation in more detail later this week

      Harris said she would run for president, and she was “honored” by Biden’s decision to endorse her. “I am honored to have the president’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic party – and unite our nation – to defeat Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”

      It is still unclear whether the party will coalesce around Harris, or whether the Democratic national convention will have a floor fight for the nomination. However, all 50 state Democratic party chairs have already endorsed Harris to be the party’s new presidential nominee. Senators Mark Warner, Tammy Baldwin and others quickly offered their support for Harris in messages on Sunday, as did Bill and Hillary Clinton.

      Two of the most likely alternatives to Harris, Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom, appear to have ruled themselves out of the running

      Democratic leaders quickly heaped praise on the president for his lifetime of service. “Joe understands better than anyone the stakes in this election” wrote Barack Obama. Nancy Pelosi, who reportedly was one of several lawmakers nudging Biden to withdraw, spoke of her “love and gratitude” in a message after the announcement

      Trump, with typical grace, reacted to the news with a vicious attack on Biden and his legacy. “Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for president, and is certainly not fit to serve – and never was!” the Republican nominee said in a post to his own Truth Social network. The former president rehashed a familiar litany of unsubstantiated grievances in his message. JD Vance, Trump’s newly installed running mate, called Biden “the worst president of my lifetime”
      In today’s First Edition newsletter, my colleague Archie Bland sets out what happens now:While Joe Biden won the Democratic primaries at a canter, his status as the party’s nominee had not yet been officially confirmed. As Joan E Greve sets out in this useful explainer, the delegates who are pledged to vote for Biden at the party’s convention next month will now be released from their obligation.In theory, that could mean an open “floor fight” in which candidates vie for the delegates’ votes. The Democratic National Committee chair, Jaime Harrison, said yesterday that the process would be “transparent and orderly”. The DNC’s rules committee said last night that it would meet on Wednesday to settle on the process.Kamala Harris has no automatic right to Biden’s delegates as his vice-president, but his endorsement plus the explicit support of many prominent figures in the party mean there is a very good chance she will run unopposed, or be a strong favourite even if someone stands against her.In her favour is wariness among the Democratic establishment of a chaotic display to the public in an open battle at the convention – alongside worries that Black and female voters could turn away from the party if Harris were to be denied the nomination that some feel she has already earned.Tat theory will only be tested if a serious rival emerges, which looks increasingly unlikely. One potential candidate, Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, quickly said yesterday that she would not stand; another governor, Gavin Newsom of California, has repeatedly said that he would not stand against Harris. Both endorsed her last night, along with more than 100 other elected Democrats.Read more here: Monday briefing – Joe Biden passes the torch – and transforms the race for the presidencyThe Kremlin has responded to Biden stepping aside, saying “a lot can change” in the next four months.“The elections are still four months away, and that is a long period of time in which a lot can change,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the SHOT news outlet.“We need to be patient and carefully monitor what happens. The priority for us is the special military operation,” Peskov said, using the euphemism for the Ukraine war that President Vladimir Putin prefers.Putin had said several times said that he felt Biden was preferable as the future US president to Trump for Russia, even after Biden cast the Kremlin chief as a “crazy SOB”.Russian state television led news bulletins with the news of Biden leaving the election race and Biden’s support for Harris, though it said it was unclear if Harris would earn the Democratic nomination.Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on the Telegram messaging app that he wished Biden good health and added that the goals of the special military operation would be achieved.If Kamala Harris becomes the nominee, then, as said in a 2020 Harris campaign ad shared widely after Biden resigned, Trump will be up against “The Anti-Trump”.Here is a reminder of some of the ways they differ: A prosecutor versus a felon. The first Black person, the first person of South Asian descent, and the first female Vice President in US history, versus a white man. The oldest Presidential candidate in US history versus someone almost 20 years younger than him. The US property mogul who inherited a fortune from his father versus the daughter of a biologist and a university Professor in economics, both of whom are immigrants.On that note, this is Helen Sullivan handing over to my colleague Martin Belam in London.Here is a roundup of this morning’s front pages: More

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      Trump scrambles to pivot campaign to attack Kamala Harris

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      Donald Trump is scrambling to pivot his campaign against Kamala Harris, with attack ads hitting her current record in office and her past in California, according to two sources familiar with the matter, after Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 race on Sunday.The Trump campaign is viewing Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee, especially after Biden gave his endorsement, and started preparing opposition research dossiers against her in recent weeks. But as much as Biden’s withdrawal has left Democrats floundering ahead of its nominating convention next month, it has in many ways also flummoxed the Trump campaign.Trump-aligned political action committees such as MAGA Inc will unleash a wave of attacks against Harris, including a $5m television ad in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, casting her as the puppet master in the Biden administration.The bet from the Trump campaign is that Democrats fear the possibility of a backlash from their progressive base if they push aside Harris, who is on track to be the first Black female nominee of the party.Still, some senior Trump campaign advisers are uncertain whether she will actually become the nominee, which would complicate their strategy even further.The Trump campaign was always set up to defeat one person – Biden – and Trump’s allies in recent weeks even pulled punches to keep the president viable as a candidate because they were so keen to run against him.The problem for the Trump campaign is that their best attack lines against Biden, on age and mental acuity, cannot be used and, if anything, they might be reprised by Democrats against Trump given he now will be the oldest candidate.And the millions of dollars that the Trump-aligned Pacs spent creating attack ads against Biden, including one as recently as last week that was centered around Biden’s slip-up at the presidential debate last month about military deaths, have gone to waste.View image in fullscreenBiden stepping aside was the Trump campaign’s worst-case scenario for the 2024 election, the two sources said, and everyone from Trump himself to the junior press aides have ironically been urging Biden to stay in the race.The Trump campaign effectively issued an internal directive last month to ensure its staffers did not publicly pile onto the Democratic pressure campaign pushing Biden to drop out, fearing they could help push it over the edge, the Guardian has reported.For weeks, the Trump campaign has been more concerned about running against Harris than Biden, with some senior advisers thinking Harris was better at delivering messages on abortion and Trump’s legal problems.Harris has been vocal on abortion rights, an issue that Trump has told advisers he thinks is an electoral loser after Republicans greatly underperformed in the 2022 midterms following the US supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.And Harris’ past work as a prosecutor could negatively highlight Trump’s recent criminal conviction in New York on 34 felonies of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money scheme to influence the 2016 election.Some Trump allies, including people at the influential MAGA Inc and Save America Pacs, have also noted she can be humorous at times; clips of her quirky phrases – “did you just fall out of a coconut tree” – have gone viral on TikTok and other social media sites.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAnother problem for the Trump campaign is that the iterations of the Democratic ticket are currently endless: Harris could be atop the ticket with any number of running mate possibilities, or Harris might not even be on the ticket at all.But the Trump campaign also believes Harris has her own drawbacks that will cancel out any gains or momentum she might generate in the forthcoming weeks until the Democratic national convention that starts 19 August, the two sources said.The Trump campaign believes it can paint her as responsible for what they call the “open” US southern border under the Biden administration, and define her by her tenure as a US senator and, before that, as the California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney.In doing so, it aims to resuscitate the same issues that dogged her in the 2020 Democratic primary, where she was pummeled for being soft on crime and too lenient on first-time drug offenders when she was a prosecutor in California.Read more about Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 election:

      Joe Biden drops out and endorses Kamala Harris

      Democrats praise Biden and Republicans go on the offense

      Who will replace Biden? How does the process work? More

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      Democrats rush for new strategy as Kamala Harris emerges as favorite

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      Democrats are rushing to figure out a plan to keep the presidency in November after Joe Biden announced on Sunday he would suspend his bid for re-election.In the hours after Biden’s announcement, a swarm of Democrats endorsed Kamala Harris, the vice-president and onetime presidential candidate, moving her to the top of the list of potential nominees, while donations surged.Biden threw his support behind Harris, saying that choosing her as his vice-president was “the best decision I’ve made”. His campaign finance account changed its name to “Harris for President”, unearthing a $96m cash war chest for the vice-president to make her case to American voters.Small-dollar donors meanwhile raised more than $46.7m on ActBlue in the first five hours of Harris’ presidential campaign, the fundraising platform said on X on Sunday.Harris confirmed she would run.“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead.”Harris was to make her first public appearance on Monday morning at the White House, where she is scheduled to speak at an event honoring National Collegiate Athletic Association championship teams. She is filling in for Biden, who is recovering after contracting Covid last week.The endorsements cascaded throughout Sunday, though there were some notable absences that could indicate desire for an open Democratic convention and a primary-esque fight for the nomination before the event in Chicago in mid-August.Barack Obama did not endorse Harris, and neither did the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi – two heavyweights in Democratic politics who reportedly played lead roles in pushing Biden out of the race.“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” Obama said in a statement. “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”By Sunday’s end Harris still appeared the favorite for the nomination, though the many steps between now and winning enough delegates allow for an untold number of ways her candidacy could go awry, especially in such a tumultuous election year.She won endorsements from the leadership of several influential caucuses and political organizations, including the chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the entire Congressional Black Caucus.Harris, if elected, would be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to be president.Several men who have been discussed as potential running mates for Harris – Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly – were among those who issued statements backing her.The rounds of endorsements followed weeks of clamoring on the left and social media memes pushing for Harris’ rise. Her supporters, dubbed the “KHive”, shared coconut emojis, a nod to a speech in which she laughed about something her mother used to say: “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” They resurfaced an ad from Harris’ 2020 presidential bid that attacked Trump for his comments on women and questionable businesses and posted copies of a check Trump made to Harris’s previous campaigns in California.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionNo coordinated opposition has emerged against Harris or in favor of any other candidate, a sign that Harris will probably be able to win the presidential nomination. Some reports indicated that the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, would not challenge Harris. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Sunday he would be endorsing Harris. Both had been floated as possible contenders.But on Sunday, at least one potential challenger did emerge. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia senator who changed his party affiliation from Democrat to independent earlier this year, is reportedly considering a return to the Democratic party so he can run for the presidency.The rules and processes for securing a Democratic nominee will be unfamiliar to many involved. With Democrats wading into uncharted territory, Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said the party would soon announce the next steps in its nomination process.Biden is the first president in 56 years to call off his campaign for re-election. In 1968, Lyndon Johnson stepped down from campaigning, which led to a floor fight for delegates at the Democratic convention, also in Chicago.While Democrats piled praise on Biden for making a hard but statesmanlike decision, Republicans began attacking Harris and alleging the left was engaged in an anti-democratic practice that could lead to lawsuits.Republicans sought to pin Biden’s vulnerabilities on Harris and called for Biden to leave the White House, saying if he was not competent enough to campaign, he should not remain president.“Kamala Harris is just as much of joke as Biden is,” the Trump campaign said in a statement. “Harris will be even WORSE for the people of our Nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the Enabler in Chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two. Harris must defend the failed Biden Administration AND her liberal, weak-on-crime record in CA.”Read more about Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 election:

      Joe Biden drops out and endorses Kamala Harris

      Democrats praise Biden and Republicans go on the offense

      Who will replace Biden? How does the process work?

      A look back at Joe Biden’s life in politics
      Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report More

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      in US Politics

      Monday briefing: Joe Biden passes the torch – and transforms the race for the presidency

      by

      Good morning. Joe Biden’s momentous announcement that he is dropping out of the presidential race may soon be remembered as inevitable – but if so, it only started to look that way once it had happened. Even as the president announced his withdrawal, campaign aides were calling Democratic convention delegates to shore up their support, Politico reported; blindsided White House officials were “finding out by tweet”.That’s not to say the decision was surprising. With more and more party leaders and donors urging Biden to quit, publicly or privately, in recent days, the president cut a deeply isolated figure. After the announcement, in contrast, Democrats fell in line to describe him as a selfless American hero – and many of them echoed his endorsement of his vice-president, Kamala Harris.One measure of the hope the decision brought with it: stagnant donations immediately rocketed, and by this afternoon, she is likely to have raised more money in a 24-hour period than any other candidate in US history.The urgent questions now: will anyone challenge Harris for the nomination? How would she campaign for the presidency, and how would Republicans attack her? And can she do what Joe Biden concluded he could not, and beat Donald Trump in November? Today’s newsletter takes you through Biden’s historic decision, and what might come next. Here are the headlines.Five big stories

      UK politics | Rachel Reeves has indicated that the government could agree above-inflation pay rises for teachers and other public sector workers, saying there is “a cost to not settling” pay negotiations. Reports suggest independent pay review bodies had advised increases of about 5.5%.

      Crowdstrike outage | NHS patients have been warned GP services “cannot be resumed immediately” as the effects of Friday’s global IT outage continue. While computer systems have largely returned to normal, some knock-on effects are ongoing, with some stranded air travellers facing days of further delays.

      Immigration | Indonesian workers who paid thousands of pounds to travel to Britain and pick fruit at a farm supplying most big supermarkets have been sent home within weeks for not picking fast enough. One of the workers said he had sold his family’s land, as well as his and his parents’ motorbikes, to cover the more than £2,000 cost of coming to Britain in May.

      UK news | Six people, including two children, have died in a collision between a car and a motorbike in West Yorkshire. Police called the incident “absolutely tragic” and said the A61 near Barnsley would remain closed for some time.

      Pollution | Real-time water quality monitors are being installed at wild swimming spots and beaches across southern England to help people assess their immediate risk of getting ill from polluted water.
      In depth: A historic exit transforms the race for the White HouseView image in fullscreen“It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your president,” Joe Biden said in a letter to the American public yesterday. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”With that – but no televised address until later in the week – he threw the presidential race into astonishing flux. Precedents are hard to find. Biden is the first incumbent to decline to seek re-election since Lyndon Johnson in 1968, and no major party candidate has ever stood aside this close to election day.Biden’s decisionThe pressure on Biden that began in earnest after his disastrous debate performance had reached fever pitch in recent days, with a series of tepid media appearances failing to persuade the Democratic establishment that he would be able to beat Trump.For weeks, he forcefully rejected the calls to step aside – but there were reports on Friday that he had become more receptive to those arguments. Last night, the New York Times reported that on Saturday he summoned two of his closest advisers to the vacation home in Delaware where he was recovering from Covid, and worked with them long into the night to draft the letter announcing his withdrawal.Only his family and closest aides were told on Saturday: most of his advisers got the news just a minute before he posted the letter on social media. Reuters reported that the decision came after Biden pored over internal polling data which showed him behind Trump in six critical swing states, and collapsing in others that had been previously been safely in his column.In the aftermath of his decision, many senior Democrats praised him as a patriot who had put his country’s future before his own interests. “It’s a testament to Joe Biden’s love of country – and a historic example of a genuine public servant once again putting the interests of the American people ahead of his own,” wrote Barack Obama.What happens nowWhile Joe Biden won the Democratic primaries at a canter, his status as the party’s nominee had not yet been officially confirmed. As Joan E Greve sets out in this useful explainer, the delegates who are pledged to vote for Biden at the party’s convention next month will now be released from their obligation.In theory, that could mean an open “floor fight” in which candidates vie for the delegates’ votes. The Democratic National Committee chair, Jaime Harrison, said yesterday that the process would be “transparent and orderly”. The DNC’s rules committee said last night that it would meet on Wednesday to settle on the process.Kamala Harris quickly declared her candidacy after Biden’s announcement. She has no automatic right to Biden’s delegates as his vice-president, but his endorsement plus the explicit support of many prominent figures in the party mean there is a very good chance she will run unopposed, or be a strong favourite even if someone stands against her.In her favour is wariness among the Democratic establishment of a chaotic display to the public in an open battle at the convention – alongside worries that Black and female voters could turn away from the party if Harris were to be denied the nomination that some feel she has already earned. Others argue that it could be an electrifying debate with the potential to garner huge public interest.Either way, that theory will only be tested if a serious rival emerges, which looks increasingly unlikely. One potential candidate, Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, quickly said yesterday that she would not stand; another governor, Gavin Newsom of California, has repeatedly said that he would not stand against Harris. Both endorsed her last night, along with more than 100 other elected Democrats.Last night, Axios reported that Harris was already calling senior Democrats to try to lock down the nomination. While many senior figures including the Clintons have already backed her, Barack Obama was not among them, reportedly because he believes he can make the most impact by waiting until a nominee is confirmed.Harris’s strengthsView image in fullscreenHarris does a bit better than Biden in match-up polls against Donald Trump: they were tied with 44% each in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, giving her a two-point advantage over Biden in the same poll. She also has slightly higher approval ratings than Biden.While those figures do not make an overwhelming case for her nomination, her supporters argue that they could quickly improve as she is introduced to the public with a unified and excited Democratic party behind her. And they point to her recent record in attacking Trump, as well as being a prominent voice for Biden on abortion, as evidence for the theory that she could be a nimble and energetic campaigner against the Republican candidate.Harris is viewed as a moderate who succeeded in California with a “tough on crime” message but later recast herself as a progressive reformer. The contrast between a 59-year-old former prosecutor, who would be the first woman and the first woman of colour to be elected president, and a 76-year-old convicted criminal is another source of optimism, underlined by this ad from her 2020 campaign that was widely shared yesterday. And Harris’s supporters hope that she could shore up Democratic support among the significant number of younger voters and people of colour who polls show have been drawn to Trump.Another point in her favour is a highly practical one: it will be much simpler for her to access Biden’s hefty $240m war chest – and the significant funds now pouring in from donors who had suspended their contributions – than for any candidate who was not part of his campaign. Vox has a useful explainer of the significant hurdles facing any other candidate.Harris’s weaknessesWhile she looks like a stronger candidate than Biden, that’s a pretty low bar. Democrats who oppose her coronation as the nominee ask an obvious question: if we’re prepared to go through the pain of forcing Biden out, surely we shouldn’t then nominate his vice-president by default?That argument is bolstered by the evidence of Harris’s previous run at the presidency, which sputtered out after her support fell into the low single digits and saw her described by the New York Times as “an uneven campaigner who changes her message and tactics to little effect”.This Washington Post piece from Saturday reports that many of her supporters say that she has become a far more effective political communicator and strategist since then. But she struggled to carve out an effective role in the vice-presidency too, being saddled with a difficult policy portfolio including immigration and the failed voting rights bill, where Biden eventually cut her out of negotiations with lawmakers.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionPerhaps the most fundamental problem for Harris: in what could be a “change” election, she will have to run on Biden’s record. So far, the Republican playbook appears to be to link her to it indelibly, and to claim that she failed to warn the public about Biden’s allegedly declining faculties.It remains to be seen if those attacks will work – and Harris’s nomination is not yet certain. But whatever comes next, Democrats are significantly more optimistic today. One of the dominant reactions to emerge after Trump’s rambling convention speech last week was: this guy is confident, but he is also very beatable. As Moira Donegan wrote in an opinion piece last night: “In withdrawing from the presidential race, Biden has given the country a fighting chance to defeat Trump.”What else we’ve been readingView image in fullscreen

      For the latest interview in the Guardian’s Fascinating Olympians series, Simon Hattenstone meets Victoria Pendleton (above) – who won gold in 2008 and 2012 as well as multiple world titles but felt crushed by the way she was treated within the sport. “ I will always feel a sense of underachievement,” she says. “I always wanted more for myself.” Archie

      Michael Segalov’s profile of political broadcaster Lewis Goodall tracks the 35-year-old’s rise through and exit from the BBC, the explosive popularity of the News Agents podcast, and how his working class roots have shaped his worldview and career. Nimo

      Tom Lamont has written a superb exploration of the complexities of life as a so-called “stealth Jew”, whose heritage isn’t instantly obvious to others, and the nagging sense since 7 October that even among friends there might be a “phantom conversation, less restrained, that would be taking place if I wasn’t present”. Archie

      “Food is deeply political,” says restaurateur and UN World Food Programme advocate Asma Khan in an interview with Kate Mossman. Over Afghan food, the pair discuss how Khan came into the world of food and why it has taken over her life. Nimo

      Can Labour keep the populist right at bay? David Kynaston argues that history says it can, if Keir Starmer avoids “privileging highly educated, self-perpetuating ‘meritocratic’ elites over the mass of working people”. Archie
      SportView image in fullscreenGolf | Xander Schauffele won the Open at Royal Troon, finishing nine shots under par and two ahead of Justin Rose and Billy Horschel. Schauffele becomes the first player to win two majors in the same season since 2015.Cycling | Tadej Pogacar sealed victory in the Tour de France with victory in the final time trial in Nice. His success means that he is the first winner of the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in the 21st century.Cricket | Shoaib Bashir helped himself to a flurry of West Indian wickets after hundreds from Joe Root and Harry Brook set up England’s series-clinching 241-run win at Trent Bridge. Chasing an unlikely target of 385, the tourists were demolished for 143 in just 36.1 overs as rookie spinner Bashir claimed five for 41.The front pagesView image in fullscreenGlobal front pages are dominated by the news of Joe Biden’s decision: a full round-up of those in the UK and elsewhere is here. “Biden quits race” is our rightfully large Guardian splash headline this morning, while the Financial Times says “Biden pulls out of White House race and endorses Harris as his successor”. “Biden bows out” – that’s the Metro. The Daily Mail has “Biden out … Kamala in?” – under the strapline “American in turmoil”. “Private care home for kids shut over ‘abuse’” is the Daily Mirror’s lead story – the US news goes into a puff along the top with the text “Biden quits race to stay president”. The Times’ headline might not surprise: “Biden quits the race”. The Daily Telegraph cuts that down to “Biden quits race”. Both the Daily Express and the i shorten it even further to “Biden quits” – which is really too short, because you could easily take it as meaning he has resigned from the presidency.Today in FocusView image in fullscreenPresident Biden steps asideIn a special episode of Politics Weekly America shared on the Today in Focus feed this morning, Jonathan Freedland and Nikki McCann Ramirez discuss the extraordinary news of Joe Biden’s decisionCartoon of the day | Edith PritchettView image in fullscreenThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all badView image in fullscreenFor this week’s A new start after 60 column, Ammar Kalia meets Julian Lee, who became a blacksmith in retirement. After 40 years working in education for London councils, Lee wanted to try something new and rekindle his childhood love of crafting. “Blacksmithing knives is a beautiful combination of producing art and something with a practical use,” says Lee. “It feels amazing to do something with your hands, and once you start making these objects, you don’t want to stop.”It isn’t without its challenges. “The anvil was the heaviest thing I’ve ever handled,” he says. “It took three of my friends to get it into the garden”. But Lee takes great satisfaction from his work – and has even taken on an apprentice.Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every SundayBored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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