Biden handed the baton to a Black woman. Kamala Harris has what it takes to overcome | Opinion

What President Joe Biden did by giving up power early isn’t quite on par with what George Washington did by refusing to run for a third term, though in the modern era of politics, nothing else comes close.

Washington stepping down came despite cries for him to stay in the White House. Biden stepping down came after a hard push from his own party. Still, he had the right to hold on, and decided not to.

But Biden did something Washington would not have done: hand the baton to a Black woman.

It may discomfort some, but we should stop for a moment and consider the trajectory of our nation’s history. Our first president owned Black women. The 46th president endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also South Asian, to become the first woman to lead the oldest democracy on the planet. He did it at a time when control of women’s bodies is again at the forefront of our politics. This time, the fight isn’t about women being taken back to the darkest days of antebellum race-based slavery, but about being able to access the health care they need and want, the kind that might save their lives or let them maintain their ability to have children.

Biden’s decision also throws into stark relief the primary difference between our two major parties. Each party was being led by a man many Americans did not believe was right for the presidency in 2025 — though for drastically different reasons.

Democrats have been impressed by what Biden did during his presidency, particularly on the domestic front. They simply didn’t believe he was up to the job for another four years because of health-related reasons, and that he couldn’t run an effective campaign because of them.

Many Republicans — and Republican-leaning independents, including some who liked many of Donald Trump’s policies — believe Trump is unfit for the presidency because he is corrupt and showing signs of age-related health problems.

And yet only one party had the courage to make a change before it was too late. It showed that Democrats are loyal to the United States — and that Republicans are loyal first to Trump.

The Republican Party talks “America first.” Democrats walk it.

Democrats are risking in-party chaos to pass on an incumbent president at what feels like the eleventh hour because they believe that is what’s best, not only for their party, but for their country. They (rightly) believe Trump is a threat to democracy, and that it would be bad to re-empower the man who less than four years ago incited a violent insurrection attempt and still refuses to accept defeat.

Republicans are slavishly following the man who is now the oldest major party nominee in American history, a man who regularly forgets or mixes up names and events, even names of world leaders, creating serious doubts he has the stamina to take on the presidency again.

Our country would be weakened with Trump back in the Oval Office, not only because he isn’t what he was health-wise even four years ago. It would prove that open and repeated immorality and criminality are not deal-breakers for what’s supposed to be the greatest nation on Earth.

Harris has to officially secure the Democratic nomination over the next month to prevent that from happening. She has to reunite a party that has had a bruising, even if necessary, debate over the past few weeks about Biden. On the biggest stages, she will need to shine and connect with the broader American populace in a way she didn’t when she ran for the presidency in 2020. She will have to overcome racist and misogynistic attacks, which have already begun, no matter how unfair a task.

And she will have to do the unprecedented: Overcome America’s inglorious standing as a country that has never been led by a woman. Having to overcome has never stopped a Black woman before. There’s no reason it should now.

Issac Bailey is a McClatchy Opinion writer in North and South Carolina.