THUNDER BAY – Democrats in the United States have a tough hill to climb, says Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu, in the wake of U.S. President Joe Biden announcing he is suspending his re-election bid on Sunday.
Biden, 81, made the announcement on social media and immediately endorsed his vice-president, Kamala Harris, as his party’s presidential candidate, just 107 days before Americans are scheduled to go to the polls.
The president had come under increasing pressure from fellow Democrats who called on Biden to step down after a disastrous debate performance against Republican nominee and former U.S. president, Donald Trump.
The news came as a surprise, Hajdu said.
“Obviously these are deeply personal reflections and I know that the Democratic party in the United States has a really challenging job of choosing the presidential candidate for the fall," she said.
“The next several weeks will be challenging times for the Democratic party, but the Democrats will, I’m sure, choose another candidate as they must and go on to compete in the election.”
Although Harris has overwhelming support from Democrats across the United States, Hajdu said she’ll let the political process unfold before considering any comment on the nominee. There have been calls in some circles to have an abbreviated primary, and Senator Joe Manchin had mused about re-registering as a Democrat to take aim at the nomination, before changing his mind on Monday.
Harris, if chosen, will also have to select a vice-presidential candidate, a move that will likely need to be made by Aug. 1.
“It’s a process that has to unfold, with the Democrats themselves. Obviously, Canada stands ready to work with anybody, including Mr. Trump, if he is elected as the president of the United States,” Hajdu said.
“The United States is Canada’s closest trading partner. We have integrated borders in many cases. We have shared priorities and obviously we’re members of many multi-national organizations, including NATO. So, it’s important to Canada to preserve that relationship and we’ll work with whoever is elected president in the fall.”
Hajdu, the minister of Indigenous Services and responsible for FEDNor, said she hasn’t had any political interactions with Biden since he was elected president in 2020, but did attend a state dinner with the president in Ottawa when he served as vice-president under then president Barack Obama.
“He’s just such an eloquent person. Obviously he shared a lot of the values that we do with the Liberal Party here in Canada and the true belief that fairness is actually at the foundation of helping communities,” Hajdu said.
