After Joe Biden announced Sunday afternoon that he was suspending his presidential re-election campaign, Democrats in Toledo, Lucas County, and Ohio expressed both gratitude to the President and excitement to rally behind his ballot replacement.
“My first reaction was to thank the President for this major sacrifice,” state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo) said. “As someone who has reached such a pinnacle of success and then seeing that it’s for the good of the country, for the good of the party that he stepped aside.”
Mr. Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place atop the Democratic Party ticket “makes good sense,” Ms. Hicks-Hudson said.
“Not only has she been his partner for the last four years, she’s actually probably the most qualified of all the candidates,” the state senator said.
Despite growing frustration among Democrats as they urged the President to step aside — including calls Saturday from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) — many were eager to praise his accomplishments now that he has withdrawn.
By living up to his 2020 promise to be a transitional candidate, even if he stepped aside only at the last minute, State Rep. Michele Grim (D., Toledo) said she believes Mr. Biden will secure his legacy.
“I think that President Biden is going to be remembered as one of the most successful presidents in history,” she said. “I think the decision to pass the torch to Vice President Harris is a great act of statesmanship and patriotism. I really think it’s going to reset the race and excite the Democrats.”
In her statement addressing the news, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) praised the President’s “selfless decision to step aside.” Much of the statement focused not on this moment or the future, but on Mr. Biden’s record from his time in office.
While Ms. Kaptur discussed the President’s national agenda — including his handling of the pandemic, high job creation, the American Rescue Plan Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — she drew specific attention to his achievements in Ohio.
“He has overseen the rebirth of the American auto and steel manufacturing and energy sectors right here in northern Ohio,” Ms. Kaptur said. “He assured passage of the Butch Lewis Act, and major projects across our oft-neglected Great Lakes Region.”
State Rep. Allison Russo (D., Upper Arlington), the House minority leader, also praised Mr. Biden’s service with emphasis on his work to pass gun control legislation.
“We are thankful for his years of service and we know when he leaves office he’ll continue to be a party statesman and hero for the next generation,” Ms. Russo said. “The successes Americans will have in the future will be thanks to the leadership of President Biden.
On the other side of the aisle, Republicans took the opportunity to express their views on Mr. Biden’s tenure and candidacy to this point.
Despite recent calls by Republicans to tone down the intensity of negative political rhetoric, former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump posted on Truth Social to express his views on the matter.
“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President and is certainly not fit to serve — And never was!” Trump said. “He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his basement.”
Trump went on to criticize Mr. Biden’s medical team and the media for covering up his age and the administration for its border policy, saying, “We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he done very quickly.”
Looking forward
While Trump made no mention of Ms. Harris, Bernie Moreno, who is challenging Mr. Brown for his Senate seat, released a statement that focused almost entirely on the Vice President.
Mr. Moreno began by accusing Ms. Harris and Mr. Brown of conspiring to cover up Mr. Biden’s mental decline before turning his attention to the future.
“Kamala Harris is even more extreme than Joe Biden,” Mr. Moreno said. “Together with Sherrod Brown, they will stop at nothing to finish their radical agenda. The Democrats will scramble to change faces, but the American people know all too well the results of their policies.”
Barbara Orange, chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party, said Mr. Biden’s withdrawal was “long overdue” and “it would seem to make sense” for him to resign the presidency, as well, “because we don't really know what his capacity [is] to be able to continue on with everything going on across the world.”
Ms. Harris, she said, has accomplished little in her current office that she would be able to run for president on.
“She was tasked with the southern border. Nothing got done with that. It actually got considerably worse over time,” Ms. Orange said. “I don't believe there’s anything she's actually done as vice president. It’s very concerning. But the Democratic Party will have to determine how they want to move forward with that.”
A sitting president has never before dropped out of a re-election campaign so close to Election Day, and several leaders have begun already to wonder what the Democrats’ next steps should be.
Although Mr. Biden endorsed Vice President Harris, uncertainty remains about whether she will immediately step in as the presumptive nominee or if there will be a more open process that allows other candidates to enter the race before the Democratic convention starts Aug. 19 in Chicago.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, who will be a convention delegate, said Sunday he thought it too early for Democrats to try to reach any decisions.
“[Ms. Harris] brings a lot to the race,” he said. “That being said, I think we would all benefit by just catching our breath here and seeing what happens over the next couple of days.”
Erika White, the president of the Holland-Springfield Democratic Club who will also serve as a convention delegate, echoed much of the praise for Mr. Biden, crediting him with “saving democracy twice.” in addition, she mentioned that she felt less need for a drawn-out contest for the Democratic nomination.
Ms. Harris’ experience in politics, achievements as part of the Biden administration, and identity as a woman all make her an exciting candidate to rally behind, Ms. White said.
“I have a union and labor background, and when we get behind somebody, we get behind them 1,000 percent,” she said. “If [Mr. Biden] says that Kamala Harris is his choice, I respect that choice and I respect the person who has twice stepped up and now stepped aside to save our democracy. I don’t need to dilly and dally. We’ve done that, and we’ve really cost ourselves a lot.”
The most commonly reported replacements for Mr. Biden besides Ms. Harris include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, among others.
Each of those possible nominees would be decades younger than Mr. Biden, and all the local Democratic leaders interviewed believe that such youth would be a motivating factor to drive turnout. Erin Westrick, vice president of the Lucas County Young Democrats, said the group hopes to seize the moment to increase engagement among both new and existing members.
“I think this is also an opportunity for the Young Dems to really focus on voter registration, because we still have two to three more months to get more young people registered,” Ms. Westrick said. “I think that there’s a chance [a younger candidate] will help solely because people have been tired of what they have seen in the media and we want to make sure that this is an opportunity for new and exciting promises.”
On a statewide level, several other groups, including the Lincoln Project, Progress Michigan, the Center for American Woman and Politics, and a coalition of Black-led groups all released statements thanking Mr. Biden for his service, with the latter two expressing support for Vice President Harris.
Schuyler Beckwith, chairwoman of the Lucas County Democratic Party, said uncertainty on the national level also served as extra motivation for the party’s local work.
“While we wait to see how the presidential nomination process will move forward, we are more focused and dedicated to our state and local elections than ever.”
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