PROFILE - All eyes on Kamala Harris as Joe Biden withdraws candidacy for US presidential election

By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON, US (AA) - US President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he is withdrawing his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election against former President Donald Trump, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him in the bid for Democrats to keep the White House.

"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 to focus solely on fulfilling the duties as president for the remainder of my term," Biden wrote in a letter posted on X.

The unprecedented decision puts the Democratic Party into scramble mode to choose its official nominee for the Nov. 5 presidential election. Time is ticking, as the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois from Aug. 19-22 is quickly approaching.

The president wasted no time in endorsing his vice president to replace him in the race against Trump.

"My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice president. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made," said Biden.

"Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year," he continued. "Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this."

Biden's endorsement does not guarantee that Harris will be the Democratic presidential nominee, but if Harris is chosen by her party and wins the presidential election in November, she will become the first female president in American history.

Harris was born in 1964 in Oakland, California to a biologist mother who came to the United States from India as a student. Her Black father was an economics professor who came to the US from Jamaica, also as a student.

Harris studied political science and economics at Howard University in Washington, D.C. before receiving her law degree at the University of California, Hastings College of Law. She had a storied legal career, becoming the first female district attorney for San Francisco in 2004. She also won the 2010 race for California attorney general and was victorious in her reelection bid for her second term as attorney general in 2014.

In 2016, Harris won the US Senate race in California, becoming the first senator of South Asian origin and the second Black senator to enter Congress from that state. She launched a campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in January 2019 but dropped out of the race less than a year later in December.

When Biden was officially nominated as the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, he announced in August 2020 that he had chosen Harris as his vice-presidential running mate. After Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election, Harris became the first woman to serve as the 49th vice president as well as the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to serve in the nation's second highest office.

During her vice presidency, Harris traveled to more than 19 countries and met with over 150 world leaders. She also worked with Biden to reduce unemployment in the US by investing in the economy. Harris actively engaged in fighting against racism and sexism and was an outspoken advocate for abortion rights as well as LGBTQ rights.

After entering Congress, Harris first made a name for herself with her reaction to a regulation that banned travel to the US from seven Muslim countries which Trump signed into law on Jan. 28, 2017 as soon as he took office.

While Harris continued her scrutiny and questioning of Trump's cabinet and senior appointments in 2017, she was elected to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2018. Harris also took an active role in the Senate investigations regarding Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential elections.

In this context, Harris, who questioned US Attorney General William Barr in the Senate about the "Muller report," was frequently mentioned in the media. In addition to the Judiciary Committee, Harris also served on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Select Intelligence Committee and Budget Committee.

Despite her impressive credentials, Harris remains a polarizing figure for Democrats, so receiving the endorsement from Biden does not make her a shoe-in for the Democratic presidential nominee. Her views on every topic, including immigration, abortion, health care, student debt relief, climate change and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, are being scrutinized from top to bottom.

Political experts believe that Harris automatically filling the void for Biden as the party's nominee is not etched in stone. At the Democratic National Convention next month, Biden was expected to receive the party's nomination hands-down with nearly 3,900 delegates from all 50 states pledging to support his candidacy, double the 1,976 delegates needed to win the nomination. Now, those delegates are free to vote for whoever they want to.

If Biden had stepped down as president, Harris would have automatically replaced him as the party's nominee, but because he is planning to serve out the remainder of his four-year term, Harris does not automatically become the Democratic Party's candidate for the 2024 election.

While there have been a number of vice presidents in recent US history who have become the presidential candidates for their respective parties, including Richard Nixon, Walter Mondale, George H.W. Bush, Al Gore, and even Joe Biden, tapping Harris as the next presidential candidate for her party is not necessarily a foregone conclusion, even though choosing her may appear to be the obvious choice.

Other names being talked about in Democratic political circles include Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Maryland Governor Wes Moore, as well as US Senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

If Harris is nominated as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, recent polls have put her on equal footing with Biden's numbers facing Trump, with some polls giving the vice president a slight edge, although given the margins of error in many polls, a potential race between Harris and Trump would be too close to call.

A CBS News/YouGov poll showed that Trump led Harris by three points (51%-48%) compared to a five-point difference versus Biden (52%-47%). An Economist/YouGov poll had Trump leading Harris by five points (44%-39%) whereas Trump only led Biden by two points (43%-41%).

Polls aside, Democrats now have less than a month to decide if Harris should be their choice to face off against Trump in November.