WISCONSIN — President Joe Biden’s unprecedented announcement to drop out of the 2024 presidential election has garnered mixed reaction from politicians and voters alike across Wisconsin and the nation.
Biden made the announcement Sunday afternoon via a letter posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
What has not changed, according to political experts, is the critical importance of Wisconsin in the race for the White House. A key battleground state, Wisconsin voters could decide who wins the election come November.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Political Science Professor Anthony Chergosky noted the historical significance of Biden’s decision to exit.
“We haven’t seen a situation like this since 1968, the last time a sitting president decided not to run for reelection when they were eligible to do so,” he said. “Top Democrats have been making a lot of noise about wanting someone other than Biden to be the nominee and the fundraising for the Biden campaign has really dried up.”
Biden ending his re-election campaign came three days after the Republican National Convention wrapped up in Milwaukee, where former President Donald Trump formally accepted the GOP nomination after surviving an attempted assassination a week ago.
In the same letter, Biden also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the new Democratic nominee.
“I think it’s unlikely that we will see a new Democratic candidate emerge as an alternative to Harris,” Chergosky said. “If Harris is the Democratic nominee, will she do better than Biden? It’s hard to say, but clearly Biden’s polling numbers were heading in the wrong direction.”
The Democratic National Convention takes place Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, which is less than a month away. Chergosky said he thinks it’s unlikely that another Democrat will step up with so little time to launch a successful campaign.
“Joe Biden quickly endorsed Kamala Harris, and that means a lot to other Democrats,” he said. “I think other potential candidates are going to be nervous about what an uphill battle it would be to launch a campaign and to run against someone who has the blessing of the sitting president.”
In terms of polling numbers, Chergosky said not much is known about how Wisconsin voters would react at the ballot box to a Trump versus Harris presidential race.
“It’s one thing when a Harris campaign is a hypothetical and another when it’s more of a reality so, I would take a wait-and-see approach to the polls,” he said. “Wisconsin is still absolutely pivotal in the presidential election and that is the one constant through all of the historic events we’ve seen.”