Washington, NY After the important midterm elections, US President Joe Biden appears optimistic. “I’m not going to change anything fundamentally,” he said, joking and laughing. The final result is still pending, and Democrats could lose a majority in one or both houses of Congress.
But Biden’s party did better than expected across the board – and that gives him impetus. The president, who turns 80 on November 20, has become more likely to run for a second term.
“At the beginning of next year” he wants to announce a decision, he says. But internally, his closest circle is already preparing for a new election campaign. Biden sees himself as the best candidate to take on Donald Trump.
The 76-year-old Trump wants to make a “big announcement” on Tuesday. But after the midterm elections, he lost support in his party. “Trump needs to take a break,” his former spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News. The field of Republicans could become large as soon as Trump is no longer considered to be without alternative – possibly even larger than the 17 candidates in 2016.
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Many of the Democrats are also getting ready in the background in case Biden does not run again. According to a poll by the AP news agency, only a third of US citizens would like to see Trump or Biden on the 2024 ballot.
Among the Democrats, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, MP Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and California Governor Gavin Newsom are interested. Ex-Senator Tom Cotton, Senator Rick Scott and Trump critic Liz Cheney are waiting for their chance among the Republicans. But five politicians are among the most exciting alternatives.
1. Ron DeSantis: The Anti-Wokeness Governor
The Republican governor of Florida is one of the big winners of the midterm elections because he won the important state of Florida by a double-digit margin for the Republicans. At DeSantis’ winning speech, the cheering crowd shouted: “Two more years!” Not four more years, but two – because in his home state he is already seen as the next US President.
DeSanti’s relaxed course on Covid, which left schools and bars open and only protected the elderly, was well received by many voters. The same applies to his resistance to the new “wokeness”, for example by forbidding the discussion of gender identity in the lower school classes. Issues like free school choice have also helped minorities, DeSantis mobilized many Hispanic voters. “Florida is the state where Wokeness will die,” DeSantis exclaimed after his victory.
>> Read here: Ron DeSantis – Who is the politician Trump fears?
Trump has already given his potential opponent a nickname – “Ron DeSanctimonious,” which means hypocritical. The ex-president half-jokingly threatened to reveal uncomfortable information about DeSantis should he run for office. Followers highlight DeSantis’ family values as positive. During the campaign, he stood by his wife Casey, who was being treated for breast cancer. The couple have three young children.
2. Nikki Haley: The back and forth contestant
The former UN ambassador under Trump has broken through several barriers in her career, for example as the first woman to hold the governorship of South Carolina or as the first Indian-American in a US cabinet. Haley’s biography is exciting for a conservative party that wants to focus more on diversity.
The “proud daughter of Indian immigrants”, as she likes to call herself, combines her origins with the American dream in her performances. Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in 1972 to Indian immigrants in the small, mostly white town of Bamberg, South Carolina. She once said that she was brought up to believe that she could do and become anything despite her different appearance if she only worked for it.
She accuses America’s left of conveying a false image of the “American Dream”. Young children would “learn that they don’t have to work hard to be successful.” She is expected to announce her candidacy for the presidential campaign soon. It will be interesting how she then deals with Trump. From her time as a UN ambassador comes a photo that shows the two intimately side by side in the Oval Office. Trump holds Haley’s hand tightly between his.
The former UN ambassador is the first Indian-American to serve in a US cabinet.
(Photo: Reuters)
Haley had announced at the time that he wanted to resign. Voluntarily, without controversy – that was a rarity in the chaotic Trump cabinet. In 2016 she had fought vehemently against Trump’s nomination as a presidential candidate. Critics accuse her of too much back and forth. Since 2021, Haley has been raising funds through her Political Action Committee (PAC), Stand for America, and has been quite successful.
3. Mike Pence: The religious ex-Vice
When he was Vice President Donald Trump, observers often said Mike Pence lacked charisma. He was Trump’s most important man, the link to the Midwestern Republican establishment and the big-donor scene.
Pence has distanced himself from the ex-president in recent months. Pence stressed that Trump was “wrong” when he doubted the 2020 election results. The break came after January 6, 2021, when fanatical Trump fans stormed the Capitol. Some of them wanted to hang Pence because he wanted to certify the election results. Trump did nothing to de-escalate.
It is certain that Pence will enter the race for the presidency in 2024. He was governor of the deep red state of Indiana, is very religious, fights against abortion and same-sex marriage. He considers the greatest threats to society to be “family instability, single-parent households, the decline in family formation and an explosion in sexually transmitted diseases”.
The former Vice President has since distanced himself from Donald Trump.
(Photo: AP)
Pence is closely associated with many Christian organizations and thus also appeals to the conservative female electorate. In terms of foreign policy, he attracted attention as a deputy with incendiary speeches against China, but also against Germany, for example on the 70th anniversary of NATO, when he grumbled for minutes about the German defense budget.
4. Kamala Harris: Biden’s vizin with problems
For the Democrats, Vice President Kamala Harris is still considered the natural successor to Biden – but only if he does not run for re-election. Harris stands by. She is under constant observation because her personality is charged with symbolism.
Harris is likely to appeal to younger constituencies than Biden.
(Photo: AP)
The 58-year-old is not only the first woman, but also the first black and the first American with Indian roots to hold office. However, it has hardly developed its own profile there so far.
Rows of their employees quit in the past year, Harris can not get out of the negative headlines. She is in charge of negotiations on the refugee crisis on the border with Mexico – a thankless job because it does not bring any quick results.
>> Read here: For Joe Biden there can only be one conclusion after the midterms: Don’t do it again!
In the case of a candidacy, she should appeal to younger, diverse groups of voters who voted predominantly democratically in the midterms. Harris’ father is from Jamaica, her mother from India, both came to the USA in the early 1960s. Harris worked her way up to become a powerful leftist political figure from California, where she served as Attorney General until 2017.
5. Gretchen Whitmer: The surprise winner
One of the biggest winners from the midterms is Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. She won her re-election in the important transitional state by a double-digit margin. Trump candidate Tudor Dixon didn’t stand a chance against her. Now the 51-year-old is suddenly in the national spotlight. “She’s certainly part of our next generation of leaders, not just in the state but across the country,” said Debbie Stabenow, MP.
Whitmer was on Biden’s 2020 vice presidential shortlist. During Trump’s administration, she opposed the then-president’s chaotic pandemic policies. In the dispute over abortion, she immediately clarified with a law that abortion would remain legal in Michigan.
The Democrat recorded a strong victory in the midterm elections.
(Photo: dpa)
Economically, she can rely on positive messages: General Motors wants to massively expand its production of electric cars and batteries in Michigan – a hopeful message for the state with the car stronghold Detroit, which is still feeling the crisis of the US car manufacturers.
More: Trump is the loser of the midterms – now his party could drop him