IMHO, forced seems a bit harsh. The co-elected incumbent VP is historically the backup when something goes down with the President and you’re outside of an election cycle.
The primaries already happened, there is no time to print ballots, stand up polling stations, and get the public to vote before the Ohio roll call to get a candidate on the ballot. This would probably be impossible even if Biden dropped out on that debate stage.
The party / delegates are basically forced to pick someone, and using the precedent of a the VP being the fallback, this is probably the most democratic option. She was elected with Biden in 2020.
Even if Biden dropped out before the primary, Kamala would have had an incredible advantage over all other candidates. She very likely would have been the nominee.
There are things to get upset about. The most likely alternative taking over is not one of them.
IMHO, forced seems a bit harsh. The co-elected incumbent VP is historically the backup when something goes down with the President and you’re outside of an election cycle.
The primaries already happened, there is no time to print ballots, stand up polling stations, and get the public to vote before the Ohio roll call to get a candidate on the ballot. This would probably be impossible even if Biden dropped out on that debate stage.
The party / delegates are basically forced to pick someone, and using the precedent of a the VP being the fallback, this is probably the most democratic option. She was elected with Biden in 2020.
Even if Biden dropped out before the primary, Kamala would have had an incredible advantage over all other candidates. She very likely would have been the nominee.
There are things to get upset about. The most likely alternative taking over is not one of them.
One might note it’s not so much historical tradition so much as literally their job.
Voting for an octogenarian with a VP means you don’t really mind the VP becoming president.