What's next for Minnesota voters as the presidential race hits reset
MINNEAPOLIS — Voters have not seen a presidential race this volatile since 1968, when President Lyndon Johnson shocked the nation and announced he was dropping out of the the race.
Sunday, President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race just weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. With Mr. Biden's endorsement, Vice President Kamala Harris has solidified her hold over delegates to become the likely Democratic nominee.
With a possible new face of the Democratic party, Democratic analyst Abou Amara believes voters now see hope in former President Donald Trump.
"It is a shot to the arm of so many Democrats since that debate with Joe Biden, a lot of Democrats had fears that they were locked in, and we were kind of on the Titanic," said Amara. "Now, we feel like we have a shot, and we're reaching out to voters in a different way. So that's the first piece. And then the second piece is, there's millions of Democrats who had not been paying attention because maybe they didn't like Joe Biden that are now paying attention: young people, African American women. So it really helps to expand and possibly grow the Electoral College map, and that's important for Democrats if we want to win in November."
The attention for the moment may have shifted from Trump, who just survived an assassination attempt, and hosted the Republican National Convention. But in this shape-shifting race, the status quo is changing dramatically at every turn.
Republican analyst Amy Koch told Esme Murphy the race shakeup was unwelcomed by many Republicans who wanted Trump to run against Mr. Biden. The Trump campaign was gathering attention following the lackluster debate performance by Mr. Biden followed by the assassination attempt against Trump and, days later, the Republican National Convention. Now that momentum has shifted to the Democrats.
"This definitely blunts some of that momentum. The attention has now refocused back to the Democrats and in a positive way, not just in a 'When is he (Mr. Biden) going to resign, sort of way.'" said Koch.
Early voting in some states, including Minnesota, starts in late September.
"The gateway to the presidency is the Midwest," said political analyst and Hamline Professor David Schultz. "If we just think about how this campaign has changed, is that for the Democrats to succeed, they need to have college-educated women. They need to have people under the age of 30, people of color show up and vote. They were not excited by Biden. Now there seems to be this sense, again, we don't know really yet, but there seems to be a sense that Harris is exciting those three groups, which is now going to force Trump to have to think about how to alter strategy."
The next question for many voters: who will be Harris' running mate? Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is one of those candidates that has been floated by other Democrats as a potential vice president pick.
"They're looking for candidates for vice president who can help to expand the reach of the Harris ticket. They need to be able to appeal to independents, to those swing voters who are yet to be persuaded. And Tim Walz has had a terrific record in reaching across the aisle for voters who are independent, some Republican. His military record, again, something I think the Harris campaign will be interested in," said Professor Larry Jacobs from the University of Minnesota.