The anti-Donald Trump publication The Bulwark published a column on Thursday urging Democrats to ditch President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in favor of a presidential ticket featuring Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA).
The outlet cited Biden’s age, Harris’s low approval rating, and Trump’s strengthening position in the polls as reasons for Democrats to ditch the current administration in 2024.
The Bulwark’s A.B. Stoddard cited an Associated Press-NORC poll that found more than three-fourths of voters think Biden is too old to carry out a second term.
“Biden doesn’t have to end up in a health crisis in the hospital for the bottom to fall out,” the column hypothesized. “Should he have an episode like the two Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has now had, freezing up and temporarily unable to speak, the party will have to move quickly to replace him in order to have a shot at winning a majority of voters next year.”
Stoddard pointed out that Biden “has lost critical support from the coalition that helped” beat Trump in 2020, namely independents, Hispanics, black Americans, and Republicans.
Former President Donald Trump walks to speak with reporters before departure from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The publication seemingly had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Trump’s poll numbers put him in a stronger position than he was at any point during the 2020 campaign.
“It’s hard to metabolize this—the idea that the guy who tried to steal an election and overthrow the government is better positioned against Biden following Biden’s successful first term—but polls show Trump faring quite well against him,” Stoddard wrote.
“Gambling that a man a majority of Americans have already written off for his age will be in stronger shape politically a year from now doesn’t sound reasonable. It sounds incredibly dangerous,” Stoddard continued.
In the column, Stoddard praised Whitmer as “one of the most experienced, exciting, and winning Democrats in the country.” Stoddard lauded Warnock for growing up in “public housing” and going through “a messy divorce—no longer disqualifying in the age of Trump.”
“Young. Dynamic. Diverse. Competent and experienced. Broadly appealing. Can mobilize core voters. Would deliver two battleground states,” Stoddard fantasized. “Those are seven big boxes already checked.”
The column urged Democrats nationwide to unite with “other members of the broad anti-Trump coalition” to defeat Trump.
Stoddard concluded:
Every Democrat who can help the party defeat Trump next year should be placing this goal above all else: It must come before personal feelings, political differences with other members of the broad anti-Trump coalition, or even plans to preserve their own viability for the 2028 race. And that goes for Whitmer, too, perhaps most of all.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk through the Colonnade of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 11, 2022. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
If Trump beats Biden next year, there won’t be another free and fair election. Democrats can treat this like the emergency it is or risk it all.
There have been growing calls for the Democrats to make serious changes to their ticket in recent months. A Los Angeles Times columnist in August proposed the Democrats have Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) appoint Harris to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) seat, removing her from the presidential ticket.
Concerns over the Democrats’ current presidential ticket come as poll numbers show Biden and Harris have increasingly low approval ratings. A poll conducted during the first quarter of 2023 found Biden’s approval rating is underwater in most states.
As of August, 54 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Harris, while just 40 percent view her favorably, according to the Los Angeles Times.
On the other hand, an August Economist/YouGov survey found Trump leads Biden in a national head-to-head matchup.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at
