President Joe Biden, three weeks after a tenuous debate performance had supporters, media pundits, and elected officials from his party calling him to step down from his reelection bid, has announced he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
The president, who will see through the remainder of his term, announced the news in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, as he continues to recuperate from Covid-19. The announcement came days after the Republican Party celebrated their nominee Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, and his return to center stage after surviving an assassination attempt on July 14.
Though the Democratic National Convention, when a new nominee will be formally chosen, isn't until August 19, Biden has already endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's nominee. He wrote on X: "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. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump."
Even before Biden announced he was stepping down, various names of fellow politicians were being thrown into the bucket as possible replacements for him, or running mates for the vice president.
Below, catch up on who some of the potential running mates could be, should Harris become the Democratic Party's official nominee.
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© GettyGavin Newsom
Though many Democrats have long hoped for a presidential run from Newsom, currently the governor of California, and eyes quickly turned to him following Biden's infamous debate performance, him as Harris' running mate is unlikely.
Both him and Harris, previously a senator and attorney general of California, represent California, and although legally allowed, an odd quirk in the U.S. Constitution's 12th Amendment means that their win could be easily contested if the margin of error is close, because it states presidential electors cannot vote for a president and a vice president who are both from the same state.
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© GettyGretchen Whitmer
Whitmer is currently serving her second term as the governor of Michigan, where she has a broad and diverse following, who have affectionately nicknamed her "Big Gretch."
In 2020, she was reportedly on Biden's shortlist of potential running mates, and later became co-chair of the Biden-Harris reelection campaign. In the wake of Biden's decision, she wrote on X: "My job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families' costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan."
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© GettyJ.B. Pritzker
Pritzker became governor of Illinois in 2019, and amid this year's election season, has become a popular voice for progressives among the Democratic Party.
Aside from his role as governor, however, he is also best known for being a member of the wealthy Pritzker family, who founded the Hyatt hotel chain. Pritzker currently stands as the wealthiest politician in the U.S., and has an estimated net worth of $3 billion.
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© GettyMark Kelly
Kelly, a junior senator from Arizona since 2020, has been at the top of the list of Harris' rumored running mates even before Biden's decision was made official, though he had firmly expressed his support for a Biden-Harris ticket even after many of his colleagues called for the president to step down.
Part of the senator's appeal is not only that he represents a swing state — he flipped the late John McCain's senate seat from red to blue — but he has been especially beloved since in 2011, his wife, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, survived an assassination attempt that left six people dead.
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© GettyJosh Shapiro
At a time when the Democratic Party has unity as one of its priorities, Shapiro, currently the governor of Pennsylvania, has been considered as someone potentially capable of breaking through the country's intense divide.
Though he is currently only in his second year as governor, and may be a less prominent figure than other potential candidates, that he could secure swing votes across the Rust Belt has become a significant part of his appeal.
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© GettyAndy Beshear
Similarly to Shapiro, Beshear, who is currently serving his second term as governor of Kentucky — one of the country's most conservative states — is seen as a unifying figure who has already garnered a wide array of voters and supporters across the political aisle in two elections.
Senator Joe Manchin, who became an Independent in 2024 after increasingly alienating himself from the Democratic Party, pointed out during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, referring to both Shapiro and Beshear: "They haven't divided their state. They haven't made you pick a side and demonized the other side," maintaining: "They've brought people together."
