“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black,
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.
“There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.”
That’s what it felt like this week when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for re-election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s new nominee.
Now the party must unite behind Kamala Harris, allow her to pick a new running mate, and move on to defeat Donald Trump.
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After weeks of Democratic in-fighting, Biden’s historic withdrawal shifts the momentum away from the Republican Party and back toward the Democrats heading into their convention in Chicago next month.
The great stunt queen, Donald Trump, thought he won the publicity wars last week when he dramatically announced his new running mate, the inexperienced freshman Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, and told the world the story of surviving an assassination attempt in his rambling 90-minute convention speech.
Now that’s old news, and we have a fundamentally different race. Instead of a contest between two unpopular, old white guys, the new race pits a 59-year-old Black woman against a 78-year-old convicted felon.
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It’s the past versus the future. An all-white-male Republican ticket or a Democratic ticket led by an accomplished Black woman. A party that carries the heavy baggage of scandals, impeachments, indictments, and 34 felony convictions from Donald Trump or a party that has an opportunity to reinvent itself with Kamala Harris.
I’ve said all along that I will support the Democratic nominee for president, but I’ve publicly worried about the donor class and wondered if they would accept Harris as the new nominee.
Some floated ideas of an open primary or a “blitz primary” with candidate forums moderated by Republicans like Condoleezza Rice. And TV producer Aaron Sorkin even suggested the ridiculous idea that Democrats should nominate Republican Mitt Romney for president.
No, no, and no.
Now is the time for the Democratic Party to step up.
All those Democratic donors and party insiders who spent the past few weeks pushing Biden out of the race better pony up their money, time, and energy and start contributing to Kamala Harris’s campaign and the Democratic Party. This is the new Plan B.
We’ve heard a lot of Democratic names floated for president in the past few weeks: Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Pete Buttigieg, Wes Moore, Andy Beshear, and Mark Kelly. But now that President Biden has endorsed Vice President Harris, I hope and expect those leaders will stand down and support her, if for no other reason than loyalty to President Biden.
But also because there are financial obstacles if Democrats nominate someone other than Harris. Harris was Biden’s running mate, so she can tap into the $96 million Biden has in the bank. Any new candidate may have to start from scratch. Let’s not make this any more complicated than it needs to be.
Now is the time for the Democratic Party to step up. You say you are an inclusive party of women and people of color. It’s time to prove it and get behind Kamala Harris. The Congressional Black Caucus quickly announced its support for Harris.
Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. He must be defeated. We have the power to stop Project 2025 and Agenda 47.
The wind is finally at our backs. Let’s get to work.
Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.
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