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Biden’s less-than-stellar performance in the debate against Trump unsettled many Democrats.
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It also shed light on the party’s past difficulties in assembling a small team of future leaders.
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The debate is likely to prompt Democrats to rethink how power is transferred to younger generations.
After President Joe Biden’s mediocre debate performance Thursday night, many Democrats began to panic.
With voters already questioning whether Biden is ready for a second term due to concerns about his old age, party leaders wanted the president to use the debate not only to reassure the electorate but also to make an impression going into the race. could turn an advantage.
But that didn’t happen. And now many Democrats are wondering whether Biden should withdraw from the race.
The fact that the party has to make such a decision just five months before the election is partly due to one of the Democratic Party’s most persistent problems: the slow transfer of power to younger generations.
Generational change
For twenty years, Nancy Pelosi led Democrats in the House of Representatives as part of a leadership team that included veteran lawmakers Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn. It wasn’t until 2023 that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a Gen Xer, finally took up the mantle of leading the caucus.
In House primaries across the country, young Democratic candidates are routinely overlooked by party leaders and organizations that often support more established candidates.
In 2020, Biden promised to be a “bridge” to a new crop of Democrats. But four years later he decided to run for office.
His debate performance against former President Donald Trump exposed this resistance to generational change. If Biden stays in the race but fails to convince wavering voters he is ready for the job, it could jeopardize Democrats in other crucial races.
What do the Democrats need?
Jeffries’ recent rise, along with the elevation of Katherine Clark to House Democratic Whip and Pete Aguilar to House Democratic Caucus chair, was a welcome generational shift — the kind the party had previously generally eschewed in favor of experience.
Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris as his vice president was also a passing of the torch of sorts. Shortly after the couple won the 2020 election, Harris said they would be “full partners.” The president agreed, noting that he would not have made any major personnel decisions without her.
Many Democrats welcomed the arrival of this younger generation, especially since the party has often lagged behind Republicans in assembling a small team of future leaders.
The question now is: were these recent efforts too late and too late?
So far, Biden has given no indication that he is leaving the race. If he remains the nominee, Democrats need him to do well. His political fate will have major consequences for important voting rounds.
Whatever Biden decides, his debate performance will likely accelerate Democratic efforts to cultivate younger leaders who could one day run for the White House, especially since Gen Xers, millennials and Gen Z will make up the lion’s share of the electorate in the coming decade.
Read the original article on Business Insider
