Election surprises

DAN CEARNS The Standard

For years, I’ve been an avid follower of politics in this country, interested in things which happen at every level, from municipal to provincial and federal. However, on occasion, what happens in the United States is interesting to me as well, and that has definitely been the case with the stories surrounding President Joe Biden.

For weeks, there have been calls within the Democratic Party for President Biden to end his re-election campaign. Those calls led him to officially do so, on Sunday, July 21st.

This choice was partially due to debate performance, Biden had against Donald Trump, earlier this year, which did not go the way the Democratic party or Biden planned. He also did not help himself, regarding concerns about cognitive decline, when he called, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy President Putin, at a NATO summit, event earlier this year.

At 81 years of age and knowing he would be 85 by the end of his second term of office, concerns, his age and health could play a factor on the presidency, are legitimate.

That said, I’ve never seen something like this politically in my lifetime. It’s not often a political party fights so heavily to replace one of their own candidates, during an election campaign, let alone the incumbent and current leader of a country.

Biden was already the country’s oldest President when he won the previous election, at the age of 78. With his primary challenger being 78 now, the U.S. was in unprecedented territory when it comes to Presidential elections.

What is to follow will certainly be interesting to watch. Will the party nominate Vice President Kamala Harris, the person Biden endorsed, to take his place? Will they decide to go with a different candidate, and will that candidate have time to introduce themselves to voters before the November election?

If V. P. Harris ends up being the candidate, she will run with the chance of being the country’s first female President and second Black President.

It's been interesting to watch so far, and it seems it will only get more interesting as the calendar inches closer to the 2024 election.