What’s next: Will anyone challenge Kamala Harris?

Harris was regarded as the strong frontrunner to succeed Biden even before his decision to officially support her. She’s already vetted and helped build party members’ confidence with a series of public appearances — and no private leaks — since the debate. Financially, she would simplify the issue of transferring Biden’s campaign resources, since she’s already part of the same ticket. An alternative nominee could still inherit some of Biden’s funds indirectly, but they’d need to be transferred to the DNC or to a super PAC, which could bring some complications.

The leaders of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus quickly endorsed Harris on behalf of its members. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, announced her own support within an hour of Biden’s announcement. Rep. Ann Kuster, chair of the more moderate New Democrats, announced her support as well. So did Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is up for re-election in one of the most competitive battleground states. If they’re at all indicative of the broader party, that’s a broad range of support from critical groups that leaves little opening for anyone else.

“I look forward to talking with my colleagues about the path forward and the best process to make sure that Kamala Harris is elected our next president,” said Rhode Island Rep. Gabe Amo, who highlighted his work for the Biden White House when he won a special election last year.

There were some exceptions to the rush to endorse Harris. President Obama was the most notable name, issuing a statement praising Biden that said he was confident party leaders would create a process to decide his successor. Nancy Pelosi, who played a critical role in Biden’s exit, did not immediately endorse Harris either.

At the same time, there are Democrats who have urged the party to consider alternatives who might be able to more fully reset the race by leaving behind any baggage associated with the Biden White House. It might be harder to attack a governor over inflation, border crossings, or the withdrawal from Afghanistan — each of which featured prominently in the Republican National Convention — that took place while they were not in the administration.

“Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner,” Reed Hastings, a top donor, said on X.

Some Democrats have circulated plans for a “blitz primary” among donors in which a number of candidates would hold celebrity-studded forums to debate the party’s future ahead of an open convention. The final decision, according to the proposal circulating, could be made by delegates as late as the day before the convention, possibly through a ranked-choice-voting system.

But other Democrats also came out to challenge the idea a competitive convention would benefit the party.

“Anyone musing about a romanticized free-for-all at the Democratic National Convention is living in a dangerous fantasy land and is asking for a continuation of the chaos and confusion that has consumed Washington DC,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. “Enough is enough.”

There’s already been some division among state parties about how to proceed. Within minutes of Biden’s announcement, the chairs of the California and Washington state parties had endorsed Harris. But New York Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs told the New York Times that delegates and party officials should “hold their powder.”

Things are moving extremely fast, and Harris’ big advantage may simply be the lack of time for lesser-known figures to quickly consolidate support from voters, donors, activists, and especially delegates ahead of a convention.

“We don’t have time for a Democratic primary right now,” Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher said on MSNBC.

Outside groups which already endorsed Biden will have to make a new decision about a Harris-led ticket. Labor unions whose members or leaders voted to support Biden will need to vote again; in a statement, the pro-Biden Communication Workers of America said that it “will be meeting to review our endorsement.”

Some Republicans, like Vivek Ramaswamy, have said for a year that Biden wouldn’t be the Democratic nominee. Others, more recently, said that they might challenge Democrats in the courts if they tried to replace him.

“I think they have got legal hurdles in some of these states, and it’ll be litigated, I would expect, on the ground there,” House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “They will have to sort through that.”

Johnson didn’t say what legal hurdles he was thinking about; ahead of Biden’s announcement, some Democrats who wanted him to stay warned that Republicans would get litigious if he didn’t.

“We know that the Republican Party and its affiliated group, like Project 2025 author The Heritage Foundation, plan on filing all conceivable challenges,” wrote the chairs of the DNC’s rules committee, in a memo to members this week.

But no state law would prevent Democrats from switching nominees at the convention, and Johnson didn’t repeat his warning in a statement after Biden’s announcement, when he urged the president to resign. At the RNC this week, Republicans talked dismissively about Harris, saying they’d tie her to Biden’s least popular policies.

“She’s slightly more popular than cancer,” CPAC president Matt Schlapp said. “She’s a classic DEI pick.They picked someone, maybe, for virtuous reasons. But picking someone because of skin color and stuff like that doesn’t pan out. Democrats, by the way, are the ones who say this.”