Live to 94 like Pat Levin, and you think maybe you have seen it all. Well, think again.
“We’ve been thrown into an emotional tailspin,” is how Levin described President Joe Biden’s abrupt departure from the 2024 campaign this weekend and his quick endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. “What next? An enormous feeling of relief along with an enormous feeling of anxiety.”
Oh, plus this: “Yes, I support Harris.”
That was the consensus among Democrats in our All Over the Map project, which is tracking the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of key voters. We heard relief that the president stepped away from a campaign that was on a path to likely defeat, worry that there is not enough time to turn things around, and support for Harris to take the baton.
“I’ve always said it needs to be Vice President Harris,” said Angela Lang, a community organizer in Milwaukee’s Black neighborhoods. “She’s the first Black woman VP and I think it would be seen as a sign of disrespect to have someone seemingly jump ahead of her.”
Michigan auto worker Tonya Rincon described herself as “kind of stunned” by Biden’s decision but said Democrats have no time to waste.
“Vice President Harris is the obvious choice,” Rincon said. “She’s experienced. Qualified. An extremely strong candidate and we need to get behind her immediately.”
There was overwhelming support for the California Democrat, but not unanimity. On the plus side for Harris: Democratic voters think she can rebuild lagging Biden support in the Black community and among younger voters, and they see her as a more vibrant and aggressive campaigner on abortion rights and other issues viewed as critical motivators for Democratic voters. But the doubts some voters raised about Harris underscore the challenges ahead, assuming she emerges as the Democratic nominee. They range from concerns the process will become too messy to worries that she is not the strongest candidate to contest critical battleground states.
“If it’s Kamala, her choice of a VP must be the absolute best,” said Darrell Ann Murphy, a retiree in Pennsylvania’s bellwether Northampton County.
“I wonder if the country is ready for a Black woman president,” said Walter Robinson Jr., an African American union auto worker. “She wasn’t seen so much during her term (as vice president), so I’m still processing the whole thing.”
Likewise, Carey Fulks, an African American from Atlanta, said: “I don’t believe Harris is a strong enough candidate to take the presidency this close to the election. … Democrats might rally around Harris, but I don’t know about undecided voters.”
Some uncommitted voters not happy with ‘absentee VP’
A Harris campaign would face the same daunting challenge that factored into Biden’s exit from the race: Former President Donald Trump is ahead in major battleground states, at least in polling taken before Biden bowed out. Any Democratic path to victory runs through Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and leading Democrats in those states say the vice president has a lot to prove. Our project includes voters in 10 states, and several who are undecided or at least not firmly committed to a candidate were quick to take issue with Harris as Biden’s replacement.
Allen Naparalla, who runs a winery in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, said Biden waited too long.
“He was just too old to be president anymore,” Naparalla said. “I don’t think Kamala Harris has it in her to be a competent president.”
Antonio Munoz, who owns a restaurant and catering business in Las Vegas, texted two words when asked about the change: “Michelle Obama.”
Ray Flores, who owns a handful of restaurants in Tucson, Arizona, was also nonplussed by the Democrats’ changing of the guard.
“Our country is lost,” said Flores, who is deeply disillusioned with both major political parties. “We have serious issues, but issues aren’t being considered, just the pocketbooks of the very rich and famous.”
Kim Cavaliere, a Georgia independent who backed Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, said she was happy Biden made the decision to step aside.
“However, I am not pleased with Harris running,” she said. “Who is this absentee VP?”
And Linda Rooney – a Republican from Media, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia suburbs, who backed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the GOP primary – likewise does not have a good impression of Harris.
“I think, personally, she has done a horrible job as VP,” Rooney said. She is no fan of Trump and said she might vote Democratic if her governor, Josh Shapiro, emerged as the Biden replacement.
“If Shapiro was the Dems’ pick, I’d be in a quandary about who to pick in November,” Rooney said.
Shapiro, however, was quick to endorse Harris. The swing state governor is on the list of possible Harris running mates.
So is Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, whose name as a possible Harris vice presidential pick also came up as our voters shared their initial reaction to Biden’s decision.
“Having Mark Kelly at that level would be immensely beneficial for Arizona, as he would fight to protect our reproductive rights, veteran rights, and advocate against the deportation of veterans,” said Melissa Cordero, an Air Force veteran who now works for a conservation group in Tucson. “Let’s continue to push for a ticket that prioritizes these crucial issues.”
Kelly, a veteran and former astronaut, was a first choice of Nanette Mees, a registered Republican in the northern Virginia suburbs who tends to vote Democratic for president because of abortion rights and, more recently, issues she has with Trump’s character.
“Oh boy, what a sad state our country is in,” Mees said Sunday. “Mark Kelly would be good, but I think it’s extremely sad that Trump is probably going to win.”
Like Mees, Las Vegas real estate agent Zoila Sanchez is a longtime Republican but not a Trump fan.
“There are no other Democrats I see as presidential,” Sanchez said after Biden withdrew. “I know it is going to be Kamala Harris. I hope they pick a Hispanic woman to be her running mate.”
Some of the reaction included unconventional suggestions, perhaps to be expected after such a tumultuous stretch in the campaign.
Longtime Black activist and organizer in Milwaukee Davette Baker said, “Yes, we could make history” if Harris won the presidency. But she said she was worried about whether Harris can win. Baker mentioned Arizona’s Kelly as an option, and then added this: “If we did want to try a woman, we could get Liz Cheney.” The former Wyoming congresswoman, a conservative who lost a primary to a Trump-backed challenger, is one of the former president’s fiercest critics.
Optimism about the Harris-Trump contrast
While acknowledging significant challenges, many of the Democratic voters in our group were energized by the weekend drama, believing that Biden had virtually no chance of winning and that a new ticket at least might.
“It was for the best,” said Eric Jones, an African American entrepreneur in Milwaukee. “Now, the Dems have a chance.”
Summer Matkin, a college student in Detroit who was undecided because she opposes Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict, described Harris as “a strong pick” to lead the Democratic ticket.
And Jade Gray, a recent University of Michigan graduate who was co-president of the campus College Democrats, said her phone was busy Sunday with excited texts from friends.
“Specifically, about the felon vs. prosecutor angle that a Trump vs. Harris race would have,” Gray said. “I know I’d like to see them in a debate.”
