Kamala Harris: Is Biden’s Vice President set to become the Democratic nominee?

In brief...

• President Joe Biden has stepped down from the electoral campaign, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, who quickly received support from Bill and Hillary Clinton.
• There are concerns about Harris's potential "anointment" by party elites, particularly regarding the timing and transparency about Biden’s cognitive health.
• The Democratic Party must unify and decide on their nominee to avoid a contentious nomination process at the upcoming conference,.

A nice quiet weekend then. Nothing major happening in the world apart from the President of the United States stepping down from the electoral campaign four months before the US goes to the ballot box. Nothing major, nothing important at all.

As Jon Sopel puts it in Sunday’s ‘emergency’ episode of The News Agents, the news was “shocking, but not at all surprising”.

There have been calls for Joe Biden to step down since the televised debate with Donald Trump at the end of June, when fears for his cognitive capability seemed confirmed by his confused comments, and mumbling delivery.

As he stepped down, he endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, to become the Republican nominee in the November election. Within hours of Biden stepping down, Harris was also endorsed by Bill and Hillary Clinton.

“It feels to me like the Harris bandwagon is going to be really, really strong,” says Lewis Goodall.

“It’s easiest for her to inherit all of the Biden money, the Biden campaign infrastructure. It's clear that the Democrat Party elites, or at least a large proportion of them, are all going to coalesce around her.”

But her becoming the Democratic Party nominee isn’t a given. Barack Obama paid tribute to Biden, and called for a “process” to find an “outstanding nominee” to challenge Trump.

So the choice the party now faces is whether to “anoint” Harris as the Democratic nominee, or look for other candidates in the party, which will eat into what time is left to establish Biden’s successor with voters.

Harris’s guns are already blazing, having said she will "do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party – and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda."

The News Agents believe an "anointed" Kamala Harris run for presidency could cause problems for the Democrats, raising questions over whether the White House "covered up" the severity of Biden's health issues.."

However, if it goes to a nomination process, he warns the Democratic Party conference, taking place in August, could be a "bloodbath" as hungry candidates vie for their chance to get to the White House.

But which ever route is taken, it does give the Democrats one advantage over the Republicans – and that's the fact their candidate will no longer be the "old guy" in the race.

Whatever the next step for the Democrats is, it needs to be taken quickly and be one that unifies the party, rather than increasing the division which has grown in recent weeks over Biden's health and capability to continue.

"One of the many questions from this is the extent to which the Democratic Party is able to move on as one big happy family and either coalesce around someone, which could, of course, be Harris or someone else," says Lewis.

"Or the extent to which relations within the party have been poisoned by these tribulations and trials around Biden, what has been hidden and what he has not said and what the people around him have not said."

Time is now ticking for the Democrats, with its convention beginning on 19 August and US voting on 5 November.

Listen to the discussion in full on The News Agents.