Local experts weigh in on Biden bowing out and Harris’ appeal

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Although President Joe Biden is taking himself out of the running for a second term , one local professor sees potential nominee Kamala Harris inheriting many of the incumbent’s problems.

“The big problem that Kamala Harris is going have is that Biden is very unpopular. And unless he resigns, he’s going to be the president. It’s going to be the Biden Administration from now through January,” said Dr. Paul Sracic, professor of humanities and social sciences at Youngstown State University.

But Grove City College’s Michael Coulter thinks there’s the possibility for Harris to offer an alternative to voters who haven’t been happy with either the current or former presidents.

“That might actually put the Democrats in a slightly better position to respond or appeal to those so-called double-haters,” Coulter said.

While the public has not seen the current president since before his decision, Coulter thinks the Biden legacy is at stake.

“He’ll be highly esteemed among Democratic activists. I suspect historians into the future will look at this as the right thing as in both the interests of his own interest and the interests of his party,” Coulter said. “I think if he were to remain in the race and lose, that would be the opening line of the biography of Joe Biden.

Sracic thinks voters could be turned off by what he sees as the backstory to the president’s announcement Sunday.

“Essentially, the rank and file Democratic voters don’t have any say in this right at this point. Now, it’s just the delegates, and they all seem to be rallying around Kamala Harris. It does seem kind of un-democratic. It sort of hankers back to the old smoke-filled rooms,” Sracic said.

While both professors believe there won’t be a lot of shifting among Republican and Democrat voters, the ultimate outcome may well hinge on which candidate gets people to the polls.

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chair Chris Anderson said he is happy to see that the delegates are going to be able to vote for whoever they want.

“Whether it’s Vice President Harris or it’s someone else …whoever is going to run will have the opportunity to make that case to the delegates,” Anderson said.

Congressman Michael Kripchak, 6th District, said he is unsure who the nominee will be.

“It looks like Kamala is going to be the nominee, but we’re going to have a convention and that’s where things will shake out, and I am certain we will get the right candidate,” Kripchak said.

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