Local political analyst reacts to President Joe Biden pulling reelection bid

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — After weeks of calls for him to drop out of the race, President Joe Biden announced he’s ending his reelection bid.

In a letter, Biden said he believes it’s in the best interest of his party and the country for him to stand down and focus on fulfilling his duties as president for the rest of his term.

Dr. Eric Claville, Norfolk State University political analyst, spoke with 10 On Your Side about the historic moment.

“It shows that the party itself is moving in a different direction,” Claville said. “In that direction itself is to have another candidate that they believe is viable in order to run against current nominee former President Donald Trump.”

In a separate post on X, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to run for the presidency. If elected, Harris would be the first woman of color to be president.

“It does hold tremendous weight because now you don’t have to have an open convention, which you want to avoid that, because that would open up a lot of chaos and confusion in any convention,” Claville said. “At this point, anyone can throw their hat in the ring for nominee. However, the viability of them becoming the nominee is almost zero tonight.”

Claville said the best thing for the Democratic Party to do now is to regroup and repair their divide.

“Are they capable of doing it? They are capable of doing it. But will it be enough for those small margins of error within the battleground states i order to overcome the advantage that former President Trump and the Republican ticket has? I think not.”

Many politicians took to social media to respond to Biden announcement.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin posted on X saying in part, “It’s the Biden-Harris administration’s weak leadership and resulting chaos … that is on the ballot this November.”

10 On Your Side asked Claville what he thought the Democratic Party should do to better their chances of winning the election.

“The Democrats have to win Virginia in order to have an opportunity to win the election. If Virginia is lost by the Democrats, the election itself, for the most part, will be lost.”

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