which Democrat could replace Joe Biden in the event of withdrawal?

This debate was supposed to give momentum to the Democratic electorate. It produced the opposite effect. Worse, some of his supporters are already calling to replace Joe Biden in the presidential race. Faced with his opponent Donald Trump, the American president repeatedly appeared confused during the first debate held on Thursday. Since then, the media have expressed their doubts openly. Even his camp no longer hesitates to criticize him. Reed Brody, former head of the Democratic Party, launched Friday June 28 on franceinfo that“he does[llai]“I can’t find another way” than Joe Biden to represent them in the November presidential election. “It is not too late (…) If Biden decides to withdraw this week, there will be candidates. There are many”he estimated the former deputy prosecutor of the State of New York.

Concern about the president’s advanced age, 81, has been one of the recurring topics of the primaries. However, four months before the election, he intends to maintain his candidacy. “I wouldn’t run again if I didn’t believe, with all my heart and soul, that I could do this job.”, he tried to reassure Friday during a meeting in Raleigh (North Carolina). Nevertheless, “The Democrats will try to convince him [de se retirer] (…) It’s going to be a rift within the party.”assures franceinfo Dominique Simonnet, writer and journalist specializing in the United States.

So, who will replace Joe Biden in the event of his withdrawal, at the Democratic National Convention to be held at the end of August to designate the party’s official candidate? Franceinfo profiles the main potential successors.

Kamala Harris, an unpopular vice president

The number two in the American executive branch appears to be an obvious choice to succeed Joe Biden. “It is quite natural that it is the person who occupies the vice-presidency who is the heir to the previous presidency”estimates Ludivine Gilli, director of the North America Observatory of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, recalling the candidacy of Al Gore, former vice-president of Bill Clinton and candidate to succeed him in 2000. “The whole difficulty is that we need a consensual candidate who can unite the right wing and the left wing of the party”continues the doctor of history.

Kamala Harris, now 59 years old, is the first woman and first African-American to become vice-president, in 2020. If Joe Biden resigns from his mandate, she will automatically be president. She was a pioneer on several occasions: the first black prosecutor in San Francisco and then in California, the first woman of South Asian origin to represent this state in the Senate. Her age, her dynamism, her pugnacity in the parliamentary commission of inquiry, and her relative proximity to minorities made her an ideal running mate for Joe Biden. However, she is criticized for not having been able to carve out a place within the Biden administration, reports The Guardian.

Reed Brody, former Democratic Party official, “do not understand” why the vice-president has not been more exposed in the media: “Biden himself said at the time that he was a transitional president and we saw Kamala Harris as a bridge”, he explains. Because today, the vice-president does not enjoy great popularity: according to an Economist/Yougov poll from June, only 33% of Americans believe that she is qualified enough to be president. Friday, on CNN, she rushed to defend the candidacy of Joe Biden.

Gavin Newsom, a California governor loyal to Joe Biden

With his fire and energy, California Governor Gavin Newsom, 56, is riding high among Democrats. But there is no question of him supplanting Joe Biden, whose re-election campaign committee he co-chairs: that type of “conversations” [sur son remplacement] do not do “not good for our democracy”. Gavin Newsom has patiently climbed the ranks: first general councilor then mayor of San Francisco, then lieutenant governor before being governor of the most populous American state since January 2019.

Adopting a rather offensive campaign style, he does not hesitate to go to the front: he debated against the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, on Fox News in 2023 and granted a long interview on the same channel with ultra-conservative columnist Sean Hannity, mid-June. He triumphed over an impeachment attempt by his detractors in 2021.

On the level of ideas, he tries to embody a third way, notes The worldappearing as “quasi-centrist on questions of public order and budgetary austerity”. He also advocates universal health care and has set up a $60 million fund to help women in states that have banned abortion. His latest initiative: proposing a constitutional amendment to require background checks on all gun buyers. By the time he runs for president in 2028, he will have completed his second term as California’s president.

Gretchen Whitmer, a progressive Michigan governor

Gretchen Whitmer, 52, has served as governor of Michigan since 2019. Re-elected in 2022, she campaigned on abortion rights, the economy and the need to maintain democracy, two years after pro-Trump activists stormed the Capitol. She previously served in the Michigan House of Representatives and then in the Michigan Senate. Joe Biden had once considered her as a running mate, before choosing Kamala Harris in 2020.

A self-described progressive Democrat, Whitmer has advocated for stricter gun laws, repealing the abortion ban and supporting universal preschool. In 2013, she gained national prominence when she spoke about her own experiences as a rape victim during a debate over a controversial abortion bill.

A critic of the Trump administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, she imposed several unpopular lockdowns in her state, which led to her being the target of a kidnapping plot in 2020. Since January 2021, she has served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which has allowed her to influence the party’s strategy at the national level. Her experience and crisis management skills make her a credible alternative to Joe Biden.

Josh Shapiro, a Pennsylvania governor deeply involved in the opioid crisis

Before being appointed governor in 2023, Josh Shapiro distinguished himself as attorney general of Pennsylvania. For example, in 2017 he opposed a controversial immigration decree from Donald Trump banning entry into the United States from seven Muslim countries and was at the origin of a report published in 2018 reporting thousands of abuses. sexual assault on minors by priests of the Catholic Church.

As part of the opioid crisis, in 2019 he participated in several agreements with pharmaceutical companies, notably the painkiller manufacturer Purdue Pharma, in order to obtain financial compensation. Furthermore, the daily Times of Israel called it “new archetype of the Jewish politician very open about his faith”.