section_path: Nominations/Democratic Party
section_name: Democratic Party
paragraph_text: Democratic Party
  
  On April 25, 2023, President Biden officially announced his bid for re-election, confirming that Vice President Harris would remain his running mate.
  
  Concerns about Biden's age were prominent, given that he was the oldest person to assume the office at age 78, which would make him 82 at the end of his first term and 86 at the end of a potential second term. An April 2023 poll indicated that 70 percent of Americans, including 51 percent of Democrats, believed Biden should not seek a second term, with nearly half citing his age as the reason. Biden's approval rating stood at 41 percent, with 55 percent disapproving. Speculation also arose that Biden might face a primary challenge from the Democratic Party's progressive faction; however, after Democrats outperformed expectations in the 2022 midterm elections, many believed Biden's chances of securing the party's nomination had increased. On July 28, 2022, Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota became the first incumbent Democratic member of Congress to say President Biden should not run for re-election and called for "generational change" pointing to Biden's age.
  
  Despite a handful of primary challengers, including Representative Dean Phillips, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Marianne Williamson, and Jason Palmer, Biden easily became the presumptive nominee of the party on March 12, 2024. Palmer, who won the American Samoa caucuses, became the first candidate to win a contested primary against an incumbent president since Ted Kennedy in 1980. Biden also faced significant opposition from uncommitted voters and the Uncommitted National Movement in their protest vote movement against Biden due to his support for Israel during the Gaza war, which collectively won 36 delegates.
  
  Following a "disastrous" June 2024 debate performance against Trump that "inflamed age concerns", Biden ultimately withdrew from the race on July 21, 2024, and immediately endorsed Kamala Harris as his successor. Harris quickly announced her own campaign and secured enough delegate endorsements by July 22 to replace Biden as the presumptive nominee of the party. Biden's withdrawal made him the first eligible incumbent president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 not to seek re-election, and the first to withdraw after securing enough delegates to win the nomination. Harris is the first nominee who did not participate in the presidential primaries since Vice President Hubert Humphrey, also in 1968, and the first since the modern Democratic Party primary procedure was created in 1972 (prior to which most states did not hold primary elections).
  
  On August 5, 2024, after five days of online balloting, Democratic National Convention delegates voted to make Harris the party's 2024 presidential nominee. She selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate the following day and accepted the party's nomination on August 22.
  
  On April 25, 2023, President Biden officially announced his bid for re-election, confirming that Vice President Harris would remain his running mate.
  
  Concerns about Biden's age were prominent, given that he was the oldest person to assume the office at age 78, which would make him 82 at the end of his first term and 86 at the end of a potential second term. An April 2023 poll indicated that 70 percent of Americans, including 51 percent of Democrats, believed Biden should not seek a second term, with nearly half citing his age as the reason. Biden's approval rating stood at 41 percent, with 55 percent disapproving. Speculation also arose that Biden might face a primary challenge from the Democratic Party's progressive faction; however, after Democrats outperformed expectations in the 2022 midterm elections, many believed Biden's chances of securing the party's nomination had increased. On July 28, 2022, Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota became the first incumbent Democratic member of Congress to say President Biden should not run for re-election and called for "generational change" pointing to Biden's age.
  
  Despite a handful of primary challengers, including Representative Dean Phillips, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Marianne Williamson, and Jason Palmer, Biden easily became the presumptive nominee of the party on March 12, 2024. Palmer, who won the American Samoa caucuses, became the first candidate to win a contested primary against an incumbent president since Ted Kennedy in 1980. Biden also faced significant opposition from uncommitted voters and the Uncommitted National Movement in their protest vote movement against Biden due to his support for Israel during the Gaza war, which collectively won 36 delegates.
  
  Following a "disastrous" June 2024 debate performance against Trump that "inflamed age concerns", Biden ultimately withdrew from the race on July 21, 2024, and immediately endorsed Kamala Harris as his successor. Harris quickly announced her own campaign and secured enough delegate endorsements by July 22 to replace Biden as the presumptive nominee of the party. Biden's withdrawal made him the first eligible incumbent president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 not to seek re-election, and the first to withdraw after securing enough delegates to win the nomination. Harris is the first nominee who did not participate in the presidential primaries since Vice President Hubert Humphrey, also in 1968, and the first since the modern Democratic Party primary procedure was created in 1972 (prior to which most states did not hold primary elections).
  
  On August 5, 2024, after five days of online balloting, Democratic National Convention delegates voted to make Harris the party's 2024 presidential nominee. She selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate the following day and accepted the party's nomination on August 22.