Biden sends shockwaves through Capitol Hill with 2024 exit
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President Biden delivers a speech in the Oval Office on July 14. Photo: Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images
President Biden's announcement Sunday that he's dropping his 2024 re-election bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him was met with shock and uncertainty by many rank-and-file Democrats in Congress.
Why it matters: Democratic lawmakers told Axios they were genuinely in the dark about what the president would do — and many are equally unclear about what should and will happen next.
- "I don't know anybody who thought they knew for sure what was going to happen," Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), one of the dozens of Democratic lawmakers who called on Biden to drop out, told Axios.
- "I was surprised," another House Democrat said. "I watched his surrogates on the Sunday shows this AM saying he was all in."
Driving the news: Biden wrote in a letter Sunday, "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."
- Biden followed up in a social media post saying Harris has his "full support" as the Democratic nominee.
State of play: Signs of divisions are already emerging among Democrats over whether to immediately embrace Harris.
- Multiple House Democrats told Axios or said in statements they would like to see Harris as the nominee.
- But many others made no mention of Harris in their statements reacting to Biden's decision, with one House Democrat telling Axios: "We should have a choice at the convention."
- There is a split in the Senate as well, with some senators sympathetic to Harris but supportive of a more open nomination process, multiple sources told Axios.
Zoom in: The vice president did get quick support from several powerful factional House Democratic leaders.
- Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in a statement: "I look forward to casting my vote for Kamala Harris for President and doing everything I can to ensure she becomes our next President."
- Center-left New Democrat Coalition Chair Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) said the new generation of Democratic leaders to whom Biden passed the torch will be "led by Vice President Kamala Harris."
- But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made no mention of Harris in statements reacting to Biden's decision.
What to watch: One senior House Democrat, asked about the party's next steps, told Axios, "Convention talk heats up. Delegates released. Watch for signals from Biden, Obama, Pelosi, Clyburn, Jeffries, Schumer and Clintons" about Harris.
- The lawmaker said it is "hard to say" whether Harris will definitely be the nominee, saying the nomination process will likely be "open technically for sure, but [there] may be [a] Kamala consensus."
- Quigley told Axios: "This was the first building block. There's uncertainty, but we'll figure this out."
Axios' Stephen Neukam contributed reporting to this story.
