MONTGOMERY, Ala. — President Joe Biden’s Sunday decision to bow out of the 2024 race saddened many Alabama Democrats who had pledged to support him. Some are throwing their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, but others say they want a more open process.
Republicans, meanwhile, remain confident in their party’s momentum no matter the Democratic nominee.
State Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, a delegate for Biden, told Alabama Daily News that just hours before the announcement she was still mailing out campaign material for Biden’s 2024 campaign.
“Of course I’m disappointed,” she told ADN Sunday. “I’m disappointed in some of the party leadership, some of the elite folks in the party who pushed (Biden) to this, so that is the sadness that I feel when it comes to the party.”
Shortly following the announcement, Biden officially endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, a decision that Coleman said that she, as a delegate, supports.
“I am currently a Biden delegate (and) am slated to go to the convention as a party leader and elected official delegate,” she said.
“So I’ll be there, (and) I’ll whole-heartedly put my support behind Harris; she’s battle tested, she’s been a part of the successes of this administration, and I literally cannot wait now to see her debate Donald Trump.”
Alabama’s lone Democratic member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, also expressed disappointment, and threw her full support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
“November’s election remains the most critical of our lifetime, when our rights and freedoms hang in the balance,” Sewell said Sunday in a statement. “For the sake of our democracy, we as Democrats should come together, follow President Biden’s lead, and unite behind Kamala Harris as our nominee.”
Shomari Figures is vying to be a second Alabama Democrat in Congress as the nominee in Alabama’s reshaped 2nd Congressional District. He lauded Biden’s record, citing the recent $550 million grant awarded to Alabama for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge Project as a recent accomplishment of the Biden administration. But he later fully backed Harris to lead the ticket.
“I first met Kamala Harris in 2012 when she was Attorney General, helping us reelect Obama. She had our back then, and we have hers now,” Figures posted on X. “I fully support Vice President Harris for the Democratic nomination and look forward to voting for the first Black woman President.”
Not all Alabama Democrats, however, put their full support behind Harris.
Rep. Kenyatte Hassell, D-Montgomery, said he would prefer an alternative candidate, naming California Gov. Gavin Newsom as a potential pick. He added, however, that he would support whoever is ultimately nominated at the Democratic National Convention next month.
“I don’t think she can beat Trump, but I do believe, if they get the right person to be that candidate to become that nominee (and) they pick Harris as vice president, I think it can be done, but it has to be the right person,” Hassell told ADN Sunday.
As to Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, Hassell suggested it was likely the right decision based on recent polling data, with a recent Suffolk University poll published finding that four out of ten Democratic voters believed Biden should step out of the race.
Another Democratic state lawmaker, Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer, also advocated for a more open debate as to who should ultimately become the Democratic presidential nominee, naming Newsom and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore as personal favorites.
With that said, Tillman disagreed with Biden’s decision to step out of the race so close to November.
“It’s unfortunate to me because I think that he should have just stood firm and allowed everything to play out,” Tillman told ADN Sunday.
Rep. Penny McClammy, D-Montgomery, another Biden delegate, told ADN Sunday she was “saddened” to hear of Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, but as a delegate, looked forward to participating in the nomination process at the DNC.
“I am proud of the accomplishments of President Biden, his great work throughout the last 50 years shall always be remembered,” McClammy told ADN.
“As a delegate, I stand in unity with the Democratic Party and I look forward to supporting the individual who is ultimately chosen as the nominee; I am ready and willing to continue to work for a victory in November.”
Other Alabama Democratic leaders expressed disappointment in Biden’s decision, but hope in a renewed campaign with Harris.
Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, wrote that his ‘heart was heavy’ with the announcement, but that he fully endorsed Harris as the new nominee.
On the other hand, Alabama Republicans pointed to Biden’s decision as evidence of a Democratic party in disarray. In a statement shared late Sunday with ADN, Gov. Kay Ivey reiterated her full support for Trump, now the Republican nominee, and characterized Biden’s decision to drop out as one that came as a result of pressure from his own party.
“Democrat voters – including here in Alabama – selected Joe Biden as their nominee,” Ivey said. “When it became clear he could not win reelection, he was bullied out by his own party. Regardless of their nominee, we need Donald Trump back in the White House. November 5 can’t come soon enough!”
Other Alabama Republicans took the news as an indication that Biden had conceded he is mentally unfit for a second term, and as such, have called on him to resign immediately.
“If Joe Biden is unfit to run again, he is unfit to hold the nuclear codes,” said U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville Sunday in a statement. “I join my colleagues in demanding that President Biden resign immediately.”
Caroleene Dobson, the Republican candidate for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, joined Tuberville in calling for Biden to immediately resign.
“Joe Biden realizes he is incapable of serving a second term, but many Americans can plainly see he is in no condition to finish this term,” Dobson said Sunday in a statement.
“Biden should immediately resign from office, and if Shomari Figures cares about our nation, he will join my call for him to step down.”
Some state Republican lawmakers indicated that they felt the decision wouldn’t largely impact the outcome of the 2024 race, and if anything, would only help the Republican Party in its quest to control the White House. One such Republican was Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover.
“We have known for years of Biden’s incompetence and mental lapses, and the country has paid the price of his poor decisions,” DuBose told ADN Sunday.
“His statement that he plans to drop out of the races comes far too late. President Biden, along with his family and advisors have done a constant disservice to our country for the last three-and-a-half years he has been in office.”
Rep. Mike Shaw, R-Hoover, said he believed that the news only helped the Republican Party’s perception among voters.
“If it wasn’t clear after a very successful Republican convention, Democrats have made it crystal clear now; the Republican Party is the only hope to move forward now with a plan to unify and get our country moving in the right direction,” Shaw told ADN.
Similarly, Alabama Senate Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said he felt that the Biden administration had done irreparable harm to the Democratic Party, and that Biden’s decision to drop out of the race would be largely inconsequential.
“Alabama families are worse off than they were four years ago,” Reed wrote Sunday in a statement.
“Regardless of who Democrats ultimately tap as their presidential nominee, Americans can clearly see the results of their disastrous policies. Wide open borders, runaway inflation, and a weakened standing abroad.”