On July 21, U.S. President Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term, becoming only the third sitting president to not seek reelection since 1952. Rice University political scientists Mark Jones and Robert Stein and presidential historian Douglas Brinkley provided insights and context to several major national and local news outlets following the historic news.
In their interviews, the professors discussed a variety of topics ranging from presidential history to Vice President Kamala Harris’ potential candidacy to the impact on downballot races.
In an Associated Press story, Brinkley said Biden arrived in 2020 as a reprieve for a nation exhausted by Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He was a perfect person for that moment,” said Brinkley, the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Professor in Humanities in the Department of History. Brinkley also noted that Biden proved during an era of polarization that bipartisan lawmaking was still possible. Yet voters viewed him as a placeholder, and he could never transcend the text of his speeches to visually “embody the spirit of the nation with a sense of verve, energy and optimism.”
Brinkley was also interviewed by The New York Times, discussing how unlike Biden and his family, who for weeks have insisted that he was fit for the job and eager to serve another term, former presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson expressed doubts about the wisdom of staying on as president when they announced they would not seek reelection. Both were significantly influenced by their wives, who wanted them to leave the job.
“Each election has a different tone and tenor,” Brinkley said.
On Houston Public Media’s “Houston Matters” July 22, Stein said Harris is “much more capable” of standing up for the Biden administration, should she become the new Democratic nominee.
“I don’t think you can run away from the inflation rates, immigration, all the other issues, but I think she’s a better, articulate and more forceful proponent of those policies, something that clearly President Biden couldn’t do and may not be able to do, even if he goes on the campaign trail,” said Stein, the Lena Gohlman Fox Professor of Political Science.
So is this good news for the Democrats?
“It’s certainly better than what they had two or three weeks ago,” Stein said in the interview, adding that “every one” of the House and Senate candidates are happy to see Biden off the ticket.
Looking forward to Election Day, Jones told the Houston Landing that he believes Harris County Democrats could come out ahead amid the turmoil. Jones, a professor of political science and fellow at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said for most downballot candidates in blue areas like Harris County, there is a much smaller chance of a “red wave” of Republican wins that would have been motivated by voters’ questions over Biden’s age and mental fitness.
At the same time, however, Jones said he believes that more moderate candidates, such as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz challenger Colin Allred, could struggle with Harris at the top of the ticket because she generally is thought of as more progressive than Biden.
For a list of additional media hits following Biden’s decision, click here.