President Joe Biden is withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race, the president said in a letter sent to X. Here are some of the Democrats who could become the party’s nominee.
Kamala Harris
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Vice President Kamala Harris, who is widely considered the frontrunner to replace Biden on the ticket, is his running mate. Harris, 59, would have a leg up on several of the most widely discussed Democratic alternatives: She has already been on a winning presidential ticket with Biden, has years of goodwill built up with the party’s core voters and would likely control a massive campaign fund raised by Biden’s reelection. Harris is the first woman to serve as vice president and the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to hold the office. At this week’s Republican convention, speakers frequently criticized not only Biden but also Harris, heating up the debate over who is seen as the most likely to take Biden’s place.
As the second Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate and the first Black American woman elected vice president, Kamala Harris has already made history. Here’s what you might not know.
Gretchen Whitmer
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Her rapid rise over two decades — from law school graduate to Michigan governor — has made Gretchen Whitmer, 52, a figurehead of the Democratic Party. Her status was solidified in 2022 with a decisive reelection and the party’s success in flipping both houses of the state legislature, giving Democrats full control of Michigan for the first time in nearly four decades. She notably clashed with former President Donald Trump over the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic during his first term, and Trump’s reference to Whitmer as “that Michigan woman” during a White House briefing increased her national profile. Whitmer accuses the former president of stoking the political hatred that motivated a plot to kidnap and kill her that unfolded in 2020.
Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat, was born August 23, 1971 and was elected the 49th governor of Michigan in 2019.
Gavin Newsom
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also signaled his support for Biden, especially since the June 27 debate, and has campaigned for the president in Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Hampshire. At 56, the ambitious big-state governor offers credibility and excitement as one of the Democratic Party’s brightest rising stars, with deep ties to California’s powerful donor network. And he has long been expected to launch his own presidential bid, perhaps as early as 2028.
Here are five things to know about Gavin Newsom, California’s 40th governor.
Pete Buttigieg
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Biden’s transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, 42, is another rising star in the Democratic Party who made a name for himself in 2020, when his presidential primary campaign received widespread popular support. After suspending his campaign to, as he put it at the time, “bring our party and our country together,” Buttigieg turned his support to Biden, who praised “Mayor Pete” for his great campaign and then nominated him to be transportation secretary. At 38, Buttigieg became the first openly gay cabinet secretary in U.S. history and the youngest person to serve as transportation secretary.
Here are five things to know about Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Josh Shapiro
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The 51-year-old governor of Pennsylvania is another Democrat considered a candidate.
The former corporate lawyer was elected governor in 2021, becoming the third Jewish governor to lead the state. Prior to that, he served as the state’s attorney general since 2017. As attorney general, Shapiro released the findings of a state grand jury report that exposed child abuse by priests and a cover-up by Pennsylvania church leaders.
And, most notably, since the recent assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania that left one attendee dead, two seriously injured, Trump himself injured, and dozens of spectators traumatized, the governor has found himself in a position to manage a situation that no politician ever wants to face. His rise so far has earned Shapiro praise from Republicans and Democrats alike, for his public presence and his private communication.
Here are five things to know about Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s 48th governor.
Andy Beshear
AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, archives
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, 46, is one of several Democratic governors considered a potential candidate to join the party’s presidential ticket. His hard-fought victories over Trump-backed Republican challengers in the red-leaning state in 2019 and 2023 have raised his national profile. Beshear’s ability to win in Republican territory has helped him build a reputation as a next-generation leader in the Democratic Party, and he has said his approach to winning in GOP territory is to “step back from the outrage of the day in Washington, D.C.” and focus on people’s day-to-day concerns. In recent months, he has traveled the country and spoken to Democratic groups, including an appearance at a fundraiser and watch party in Los Angeles on the night of Biden’s debate misstep.
Gov. Andy Beshear is a second-generation Kentucky politician and a Democrat. Here’s what you need to know.
JB Pritzker
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JB Pritzker, a former businessman turned politician, was elected governor of Illinois in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. With a net worth of over $3 billion at the time of his first gubernatorial inauguration in 2019, Pritzker has become one of the wealthiest politicians in the United States. Pritzker has long championed abortion rights and held up Illinois as a model of reproductive freedom in the Midwest, welcoming women from Republican states. The billionaire governor launched a nonprofit committee that fights abortion restrictions and political extremism across the United States, and he continues to invest his own funds in competitive elections in states where abortion rights are under threat. Pritzker has also spoken out against book bans, the rollback of voting rights, and the erosion of trust in government institutions due to a more extreme Republican Party.
Here are five things to know about JB Pritzker, the 43rd governor of Illinois.
