Foreign
Replacing Biden with anyone but Harris would be a real headache for Democrats
- /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 27
https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Biden-Harris.jpg&description=Replacing Biden with anyone but Harris would be a real headache for Democrats', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
- Share
- Tweet /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 72
https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Biden-Harris.jpg&description=Replacing Biden with anyone but Harris would be a real headache for Democrats', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
Democrats would have a practical and political nightmare on their hands if President Joe Biden drops out and they decide to push Vice President Kamala Harris to the sidelines instead of the top of the ticket.
On Wednesday, Biden and Harris jointly proclaimed to campaign aides that they would press on in the face of growing criticism following Biden’s disastrous debate, according to the Associated Press.
“I am running. I am the leader of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out,” he said, according to the AP.
No one, least of all Biden’s running mate, can be seen publicly pressuring Biden to give up now.
Harris gets the money — probably.
In the event that Biden does call it quits, the focus will quickly turn to Harris. She is by far the best-positioned of Biden’s potential successors to take over. Most importantly, according to campaign finance experts, she would have the easiest path to accessing the Biden campaign’s $240 million war chest.
While nobody is quite sure what would happen to the millions should Biden step aside, Harris would probably control the cash — but only if she became the nominee.
“If Harris succeeded Biden as the presidential nominee, she would maintain access to all the funds in the campaign committee and could use them to advance her presidential candidacy,” Saurav Ghosh, the director for federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, told Business Insider in an email.
That’s because she shares a campaign committee with Biden, Ghosh said. Given her initial involvement with the Biden money — and the presence of her name on FEC filings related to his candidacy — she is likely the only one who could use the money without much issue.
Yet the same rules wouldn’t apply if Harris remained the vice presidential candidate or dropped off the ticket altogether.
According to Ghosh, federal contribution limits stipulate that candidate-to-candidate transfers don’t exceed $2,000 per election. While the Biden camp could convert the money into a political action committee if someone else was the nominee, there’s a catch — PACs can only donate a maximum of $3,300 per election to a different candidate.
“So in either case, there’s no legal way for Biden to transfer to a new candidate the $90 million dollars that his campaign currently has on hand,” Ghosh told Business Insider.
In a massive return-to-sender effort, the Biden campaign could also refund donations and donors could redirect their money toward the new candidate, campaign finance experts told NBC. Or, in yet another version of the future, the Biden campaign could transfer the funds to the national party.
All things considered, Harris soaring to the top of the ticket if Biden steps aside seems like the simplest solution with regards to the cold hard cash.
But money, of course, is not the only question — though many heads are turning in Harris’ direction, longstanding questions about her viability as a candidate remain.
Harris has major support among the Democratic Party’s core.
Pushing Harris aside could risk a firestorm. The vice president has repeatedly declared that she’s standing behind Biden, but already, influential voices in the party are lining up behind her. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, whose backing helped Biden win the state’s 2020 primary, has said he would want Harris if Biden drops out.
“We should do everything we can to bolster her, whether it’s in second place or the top of the ticket,” Clyburn said on MSNBC on Tuesday.
In Washington, where the optics are never far out of sight, it would be impossible to ignore passing over the first female vice president for a man, or the first Black vice president for a white candidate.
Black voters remain the core of the modern Democratic Party. No single group is a monolith, but none of the major Biden challengers come close to Harris’ support in the Black community. According to a recent Economist-YouGov poll, 66% of Black voters view Harris favorably. In comparison, only 47% of Black voters view California Gov. Gavin Newsom favorably; slightly fewer view Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the same light.
The same survey found that voters still don’t know enough about Whitmer to have an opinion about her, underlining another potential headache. Harris is one of the most-known politicians in the country. Any potential replacement will likely need to introduce themselves to the American people and on the national stage.
This doesn’t mean Harris has every advantage. Her notoriety comes with the White House’s baggage. Republicans would likely tag her with the same attacks on the economy and immigration that they’ve used against Biden. Unlike a potential replacement outside the beltway, Harris would struggle to show any major daylight with the president.
Already, Republicans are preparing for a potential Harris bid should she get the nomination and, with it, the campaign money. On Wednesday, the Republican National Committee released a digital ad calling her the “enabler in chief” and blaming her for chaos at the border.
Against ominous music, the ad asks, “Is this who we want to be president?” It seems the Democratic Party, and its donors, have to answer that question, too.
An Ecuadorian court has sentenced former President Lenin Moreno to five years in prison for accepting bribes linked to the construction of the country’s largest hydroelectric dam.
Moreno, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, was among 20 people convicted over corruption allegations surrounding the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project, which was built by Chinese company Sinohydro.
Prosecutors alleged that Sinohydro paid about $76 million in bribes, representing roughly four per cent of the project’s total cost.
Moreno, 73, denied the allegations and maintained that he never received money from the Chinese company.
Speaking after Friday’s ruling, the former president said he had never received “a single cent” from Sinohydro.
He also blamed the case on the administration of his former political ally and predecessor, Rafael Correa, whom he accused of seeking revenge after their political relationship deteriorated.
Moreno served as Correa’s vice-president between 2007 and 2013 before succeeding him as president. The two later fell out after Moreno moved away from Correa’s socialist policies and developed closer ties with the United States.
The court also sentenced Moreno’s wife and other relatives to nearly three years in prison for complicity in the corruption case.
Two former managers of the Coca Codo Sinclair power plant were also among those convicted.
Prosecutors had initially requested a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Moreno.
The former president has announced plans to appeal the judgment.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for official US federal use, in the latest escalation of his dispute with Canada.
Trump signed the order on Thursday at the White House, saying the change was effective immediately. The order directs the US Department of the Interior to update federal geographic records and naming systems.
Trump justified the move by accusing Canada of treating the United States unfairly in trade and defence. He said Canada had been “ripping us off” in trade and criticised Ottawa over its relationship with Washington.
However, the order does not require Canada or international organisations to adopt the new name. Lake Ontario is shared by the US state of New York and Canada’s province of Ontario, with more than half of its surface area lying in Canadian territory.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford dismissed the move, saying the lake would continue to be known as Lake Ontario by Canadians and much of the rest of the world.
The renaming comes amid a rapidly worsening US-Canada trade dispute. Washington recently imposed 50 per cent tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, while Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs of its own on hundreds of US products.
The latest move echoes Trump’s decision in January 2025 to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” for US federal purposes.
Trump also suggested that further geographic name changes could be considered, joking that after a gulf and a lake, the United States might eventually rename the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government had not immediately issued a formal response to the latest order.
The controversy has added another symbolic dimension to already strained relations between the two neighbouring countries, as both sides continue to impose tariffs and seek to protect their economies.
The United States Secret Service has confirmed that it is aware of a video broadcast by Iranian state media that appears to threaten the life of Barron Trump, the youngest son of US President Donald Trump.
The nearly three-minute video, aired by the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), opens with an English-language graphic asking: “Where to kill Barron Trump?!” It then displays stylised graphics identifying places where Barron is publicly known to spend time, including Trump Tower in New York.
The video ends with a narrator referring to people being “eagerly waiting to receive our $10 million reward.”
Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring confirmed that the agency was investigating the video as a potential threat against one of its protectees.
“The US Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees,” Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring told CNN in a statement. “Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence.”
The apparent targeting of Barron marks a new development in a broader pattern of threats directed at Trump and members of his family by hard-line Iranian media.
Iranian media outlets have previously published material threatening President Trump and his family, while first lady Melania Trump has also been the subject of threats. However, the video appears to be the first public instance in which Barron has been specifically singled out.
A federal law enforcement source told CNN that the video forms part of a wider campaign of material from Iran targeting Trump and his family. According to the source, some of the videos have included details about movements and suggestions for killing members of the president’s family.
The security response to such threats involves continuously changing and adjusting protective arrangements, based on information gathered by the Secret Service, other US agencies, police authorities and foreign governments.
IRIB, which broadcast the video, is regarded as aligned with hard-liners within Iran’s regime, while its head is directly appointed by Iran’s supreme leader.
Trump has previously spoken publicly about threats against his life from Iran.
“I’m on whatever list… so far, I guess I’ve been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long. These are evil, sick people.”
He made the comments in July at the NATO summit in Turkey, before secretly leaving the country aboard an alternate military aircraft.
The departure was part of an elaborate security operation reportedly triggered by an Iranian threat. Trump boarded the aircraft while concealed inside a catering truck after officials determined that travelling on either version of Air Force One could expose him to an unacceptable level of danger.
A person familiar with the matter told CNN that the threat involved a shoulder-fired missile and was considered specific enough for officials to fear that Trump’s life would be at enormous risk if he travelled on either version of Air Force One.
Kwara Assembly Declares Two Assembly members’ Seats Vacant Over Defection From APC To PDP
FBI confirms Tinubu was Under Investigation for Drugs
BREAKING: Ondo Universities begin indefinite industrial action
-
News17 hours agoEFCC sacks over 40 staff for corruption, prosecutes 5 others
-
Economy17 hours agoNNPCL Increases Price Of Petrol
-
Metro17 hours agoAir Force Officer Narrates How Gunmen Abducted His Wife, Two Children From Kaduna Home
-
News17 hours agoCalls Mount for Forensic Audit of Chinua Achebe Airport Over Alleged Revenue Diversion
-
News10 hours agoJust in: Court fires 2027 APC candidate, orders fresh primaries
-
Entertainment17 hours agoHeadies dismiss claims of sidelining gospel artistes
-
News10 hours agoBreaking Dangote Refinery stops sales of petroleum products to Matrix, AA Rano, others
-
News10 hours agoIntoxicated Pilot Crashes Stolen Plane Near Nuclear Site
Warning: Undefined variable $user_ID in /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/themes/zox-news/comments.php on line 49
You must be logged in to post a comment Login