President Biden’s decision to exit the 2024 race means former President Trump will be the oldest nominee in U.S. history, a point not overlooked by Democrats eager to turn the age question against Republicans.
“This will probably boil down to Donald Trump, who is the oldest nominee in history, against Kamala Harris,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., stated in response to the news that Biden was withdrawing from the race, as reported by The Associated Press.
Maxwell’s comments come as the White House race was thrown into turmoil on Sunday with Biden’s announcement that he was stepping aside, arguing in a statement on social media that he made the decision “in the best interest of my party and the country.”
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Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Getty Images)
Concerns over what was in the best interest of the party and the country were largely centered on Biden’s age and mental acuity, an issue that was amplified after the president’s poor debate performance at the beginning of the month. Calls for Biden, who would be 82 by inauguration day, to leave the race intensified in the weeks following the debate, ultimately prompting his decision to step aside on Sunday.
That decision makes Trump, 78, the oldest nominee in history, providing a new line of attack for Democrats.
“Donald Trump is too old to be President,” Democratic Ohio State Rep. Casey Weinstein posted on X in response to the news that Trump had become the oldest nominee ever.
President Biden speaks during a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“The man is nearly 80 years old, so the question is, can he serve another four years? I’m not sure he can,” former South Carolina state Rep. Bakari Sellers, a Democrat, told CNN.
Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed to lead the ticket after his exit, also intends to challenge Trump’s age if she ultimately becomes the nominee, according to a report from the Telegraph, citing the vice president’s deputy chief of staff.
The report further noted that Erin Wilson, a veteran of the West Wing, hinted at a similar strategy, saying in a call with the group “Win With Black Women” that Harris would portray “the issue of age and fitness as a liability for Trump.”
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally on June 28, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Her role as a prosecutor makes her the ultimate contrast to Trump, the convicted felon,” Wilson reportedly said on the call.
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When contacted for comment by Fox News Digital, Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer stated that the “American people are rightly concerned that the Republican Party has nominated Donald Trump, a 78-year-old convicted criminal,” adding that Trump “has spent decades screwing over working people and now wants to destroy our democracy, ban abortion, and only cares about himself.”
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