Let’s not bury the lead here. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are the Democratic voters’ choice who won the primary, making them the best candidates in the race. As a delegate at the Democratic National Convention this August, I am sticking with them because they are who I and the Democratic people voted for, and who we need to focus on to defeat Trump this November. The Biden-Harris team beat Trump once, and they can beat him again.
Prior to the race beginning, we were aware of the President’s age and his lifelong public battle with a slight stutter. These aspects should not be used against him. In any other context, disqualifying someone based on these characteristics is discriminatory.
If anyone wanted to challenge the Biden-Harris ticket, the primary was the time to do so, but no one did because President Biden’s record speaks for itself:
President Biden led a life-saving COVID-19 vaccine campaign, addressed gun violence with the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and reduced health care costs through the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act. He supported manufacturing and innovation with the CHIPS and Science Act, passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package for public works improvements, and committed $369 billion to climate change initiatives. He oversaw the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, made efforts toward student loan forgiveness, reduced child poverty through historic social welfare measures, and implemented a prescription drug price cap for seniors.
As some Democrats call for President Biden’s replacement, I stand firm against this distraction from what we need to focus on, which is getting the Biden-Harris team elected. If any President cannot complete their term, that is what the Vice President is there for, and Kamala Harris is very capable of stepping in. Ignoring Harris, a qualified Black and Asian woman, for potential replacement if needed reflects subliminal racism and sexism, which is wrong. Especially considering that Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and VP Harris is literally next in line.
If Trump wins, he himself has said he will be a dictator, and after the attempted coup d’etat on January 6th where the capitol police officer, military veteran, and New Jersey native Brian Sicknick lost his life, I believe him. If elected again, Trump will appoint more conservative federalist Supreme Court Justices, and Project 2025, organized by his previous administration, will dismantle unionized labor, free speech, the right to religion, immigration, affirmative action, and more, turning our country into a military state.
Yet, Democrats are debating whether Joe Biden is too old after one debate, while Republicans are sticking by their candidate, a convicted felon and an anti-democratic leader.
Discussing a change in candidates now risks another Trump victory, endangering our democracy and the freedoms we cherish. As Democrats, we must unite, use our time wisely, and put Principles over Politics.
As a delegate for President Joe Biden, one of the most successful presidents in our history, I know the very notion of age and a stutter does not “trump” the threat of a pledged dictator fueled by racism.
Britnee N. Timberlake is an American Democratic Party elected official, community advocate, nonprofit executive, and humanitarian. She has represented the 34th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate since January 2024, when she became New Jersey’s youngest state senator. Before she took office in the senate, Timberlake had represented the 34th District in the New Jersey General Assembly from January 29, 2018, when she was sworn in while months pregnant to replace her longtime mentor and friend, Sheila Y. Oliver, who took office as Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey. Timberlake had served as Freeholder President of the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders, where she was at the time the state’s only African-American woman to serve as a freeholder board leader. Her body of legislative work includes taking on big banks, the $15/hr. minimum wage increase, the strongest environmental justice legislation in the country, requiring an independent investigation if someone loses their life while in custody of or during interaction with law enforcement, COVID-19 housing protections, a plethora of infant and maternity health and women’s rights bills, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, the Community Wealth Preservation Program to help families save their home at the time of foreclosure, and more.