Days before President Biden announced his exit from the 2024 presidential race on Sunday, Fox News Digital spoke to delegates and attendees in Milwaukee at the Republican National Convention last week about who they think would take his place.
Mike Stieben, a delegate from Kansas, predicted the Democrats would put forward Vice President Harris if Biden dropped out, but he added that “it doesn’t matter at all because I think she’s a very weak candidate.”
Stieben added that it would be “really problematic for them” if Democrats decided to push Harris to the side in favor of an alternate candidate.
Patti O’Brien, a delegate at the convention, said she didn’t believe Biden would actually drop out because no quality candidate was “waiting in the wings” to take his place.
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Fox News Digital asked delegates at the RNC last week about what would happen next if Biden dropped out. (Fox News Digital)
“But probably it should go to Kamala,” she told Fox News Digital.
“I think [former President] Trump’s going to mop the floor with anybody they put up,” one attendee said, adding that it seemed Biden was “on the way out the door.”
One attendee said it would be “totally fine” if Harris became the nominee or even California Gov. Gavin Newsom or former first lady Michelle Obama: “The people, I think, are waking up to know that that’s just not the party of the people anymore. So, it doesn’t matter.”
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President Biden announced that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File)
“I think he understands, and his compatriots understand, he needs to drop out. So, I think he will. I have no idea who they’re going to put up, you know, to replace him. I would hope it wouldn’t be Kamala, but I have no idea,” another attendee said.
Another attendee told Fox News Digital that she has “mixed thoughts” on who would replace Biden, given that Harris is believed to be the only candidate who can immediately access funds in the Biden war chest: “It’s a really unusual situation.”
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Former President Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York City on May 30, 2024. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
Biden announced Sunday that he will suspend his 2024 re-election campaign amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party for the president to drop out after a disastrous debate performance against Trump last month.
The unprecedented announcement also came as an increasing number of Democrat lawmakers publicly called for Biden to step aside and the party’s leadership reportedly engaged in efforts to convince the president, 81, he could not win in November’s general election against former Trump, the 2024 GOP nominee who Biden defeated four years ago to win the White House.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president,” Biden, who endorsed Harris, wrote in a public letter. “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”
Biden said he will formally address the nation about his decision this week.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
