HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Many questions remain after Joe Biden's historic announcement to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. The President followed the announcement with an endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The situation will continue to unfold this week as Democratic leaders are set to discuss the next steps.
Congressman Kathy Castor will speak in Tampa on Monday at 10 a.m., and the Democratic Convention Rules Committee is set to meet Wednesday to discuss the next steps in the nomination process.
The president announced he was dropping out of the race on Sunday in a letter he posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
The letter read, "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.”
The announcement came after calls for him to step aside were increasing.
“A lot of pressure every day. There were more congress members and donors and friends who were saying, ‘Okay, you can't win. You got to step down for the good of the party,” political analyst Susan Macmanus, Ph.D, said.
She said the trajectory of the race is bound to change another dozen times before people head to the polling place.
“It's a giant roller coaster of emotions that people are going through and wondering again what’s happening in this country,” Macmanus said.
Many Democratic leaders followed President Biden's endorsement and threw support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, Republican leaders are slamming the move and encouraging Biden to resign from his position if he is not fit to run for re-election.
Harris is gaining traction among Democrats, but questions remain, and some people are on the fence. If a new nominee were to throw their hat in the ring, they would likely face financial troubles.
Scripps News spoke to the head of the nonprofit campaign legal center, who explained that Harris shares in Biden's election funds because she is his vice president.
If her name is not on the ticket, any other contender would have to secure tens of millions of dollars, which could prove difficult this close to the election.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
