US Elections: Republicans shift focus of campaign to Harris

The Republican party in the US is preparing a new presidential campaign strategy, following the announcement that President Joe Biden will no longer be running in the race.

President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about the incumbent's fitness for office.

The unprecedented announcement, delivered less than four months before the election, immediately upended a campaign that both political parties view as the most consequential in generations.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Biden should immediately resign if he is not fit enough to run for office. In a statement, Johnson said, “November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”

Trump and his party must shift his focus to a new opponent after years of training his attention on Biden.

"[Harris] has to inherit all of Biden's weaknesses other than his age," The Associated Press' National Political Reporter Bill Barrow said. "She's going to inherit his record. They will attack her on inflation. They will attack her on immigration and the border. She cannot separate herself from that."

While Trump and his team had made their preference for facing Biden clear, his campaign had nonetheless ramped up its attacks on Harris as pressure on Biden to step down intensified.

Harris, in a statement, praised Biden’s “selfless and patriotic act” and said she intends to “earn and win” her party’s nomination. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” she said.

While Harris is seen by many as the most likely Democratic nominee, she may face an uphill battle to secure the votes of a majority of the party's roughly 4,000 pledged delegates.

Biden quickly endorsed her to replace him as nominee on Sunday, writing in a tweet, “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year."

He said that picking her to be his vice-president had been "the best decision I’ve made."