Mike Johnson about the state of the race less than four months from election day.

Plus, interviews with Independent Senator Joe Manchin.

And democratic representative Ro Khanna about what's next for President Biden.

This week starts right now. This week with George Stephanopoulos starts right now.

Digging in. We are built for the close election that we are in and we see the path forward.

President Biden vows to stay in the race as he isolates with COVID and faces dozens of calls to step aside. I have concern that Mister Biden will fall short. The president is not capable of delivering the message in an effective way. The clock ticking on Biden's candidacy. Can he survive the mounting pressure? Pass the torch, shall pass the church. This morning, reaction from independent Senator Joe Manchin and Biden ally Congressman Ro Khanna, Trump's president I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States. The former president accepts his third republican presidential nomination with an emotional speech days after an attempt on his life. I'm not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here. But quickly returning to familiar attacks back on the campaign trail. The Democrat party is not the party of democracy. They're really the enemies of democracy. So can Trump attract the independent voters he needs? We'll ask speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Terry Moran talking to swing state voters, plus, analysis from our powerhouse roundtable. From ABC News, it's this week. Hear now. Martha Rabbit, good morning and welcome to this week. Just one week after surviving an assassination attempt, Donald Trump is officially the republican nominee for president, with new running mate JD Vance now by his side.

But if you thought the former president is now a changed man after that assassination attempt, think again. After promising a message of unity, he slammed President Biden and the Democrats last night with his typical fiery and demeaning language. Yet our brand new ABC News Ipsos poll shows the Trump campaign may have some wind at its back, with Trump's favorability rating at 40%. That's up nine points since June, and now at the highest level in nearly four years of ABC News Ipsos polling. This as President Biden is hunkered down with COVID and facing a swell of calls from Democrats to get out of the race. More than 35 members of Congress publicly calling for him to abandon his campaign. And our latest poll shows 61% of Americans believe Biden should leave the race, including 60% of Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris fares slightly better overall in our poll, with 46% saying they'd be dissatisfied with her as the nominee, compared to 55% for Biden. But the president this is an ABC News special report.

Good afternoon. I'm Rachel Scott at ABC headquarters here in New York. We are coming on the air at this hour with breaking news. President Biden has just announced that he is ending his reelection bid. Just moments ago, the president tweeted out, it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. I will speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision. There are still so many questions yet to be decided and so little time before those questions need to be figured out. So I want to go right away to our chief Washington correspondent, John.

Carl.

John, we are just 100 days out from the November election. Pressure was building on the president to step aside. Now he is announcing that he stage, should she actually be become the democratic nominee. John Santucci, stay with us. Thank you. John SanTUCcI with that reaction just coming in from the Trump campaign and how they're already preparing, preparing for the possibility that it could be Vice President Kamala Harris that former President Donald Trump faces off against in November. I want to bring now in our ABC White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks. Mary Alice, you have been keeping your ear to the ground, talking to sources within the Democratic Party, but also hearing from delegates who have a lot of questions about how this plays out going forward.Yeah, Rachel, I just got off the phone with one democratic state party chair who told me that he was not given a heads up to this news, which is obviously a big deal concerning the fact all, everything we've been talking about for the last hour. But interesting, he did say that he was given a call from the Biden universe or the minute after the news broke, the Biden team wanting to make sure that he was aware of the news, but also that he was checking in with the delegates from his state. Obviously, the conversation, the mechanics of this nomination turned to those delegates like we've been talking about. The state party chair said that in the conversation he's been having with his delegates from his state, I should say it's a large democratic state. So far, all the Biden delegates telling him, telling me that they will cede to these marching orders from the president, that they will back Harris. That is their intention. Like we've been talking about on the air, like you've been talking about with all of your guests. This is a fluid situation. Anything could happen if all of a sudden we get another name from a governor, a popular member of the Senate, actually challenging Harris.We will have to, you, of course, go back to these delegates. But in our initial reporting, in my initial reporting, I can tell you that so far, we're hearing these Biden delegates saying that it is in their best interest to stick with the president or to stick with Harris because that's what the president asked them to do. I also talked to one longtime DNC leader who told me that when it comes to vetting, he really believes the party has to stick with Harris because she is the only one that has truly been vetted. You know, I asked about governors, senators and people that are high profile figures. Surely they have been vetted. But he insisted to me it's just nothing the same that a vice president who has been on a national ticket has been vetted across the board and that right now the Democratic Party just cannot risk a mistake here and that even a governor, this one DNC leader, sort of opined to me even a governor could, in theory, have some skeleton in the closet that he said the party just should not take that kind of risk. One interesting thing, though, will be not only, of course, who she picks as a running maid once she announces her candidacy, but this question of superdelegates, I mean, this is getting in the weeds, but we don't know exactly if superdelegates, those elected party officials will be able to vote on the first ballot or not.They have not formalized the rules around that virtual roll call, around any roll call. We know that those rules were set to be put in place this week. So at this stage, Rachel, we are going to be tracking every meeting that the convention staff has, that the DNC party staff has as they have to rewrite these rules or vote on these rules with such a different sense of urgency, with such a different political landscape.Rachel.Yeah.Mary Alison, I know you personally will be tracking that for us as well. I want to go back to our chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl. Jonathan, you know, I've been thinking about some of the conversations that I was having on Capitol Hill with many senators, and there were some senators who didn't want to come out publicly and call on the president to step aside until there was sort of this plan in place, place on who potentially would step up and become the democratic nominee. We've been following these movements in real time. This breaking news, the president announcing he's going to step aside. Then we saw that post on social media, the president then endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. And then it was sort of this silence from some of these statements where they were commending President Biden but not necessarily jumping to the defense or endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the. Has that change in the span of the last few minutes?It's starting to change, Rachel. We're starting to see statements from some key senators that are not only commending Joe Biden for taking the decision, sacrificing his campaign to get out of a race they believed he was going to lose, but also endorsing Kamala Harris. Let me just mention a few key ones. Tammy Baldwin, the democratic senator from the ever so important state of Wisconsin, put out just blanket endorsement today. I'm proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president of the United States. And then we have the two senators from Virginia, another key state Democrats must hold if they're going to win in November. Tim Kaine, of course, who had been Hillary Clinton's running mate, saying in his statement, I'm looking forward, forward to working with my friend Kamala Harris and a great ticketmate to keep Virginia Blue and the senior senator from the state of Virginia, Mark Warner, putting out his statement again, praising Joe Biden, saying, the nation owes Joe Biden a debt of gratitude. But when he's done with all that, he ends his statement by saying, I believe Vice President Harris has the experience, energy and resolve to lead our nation.And we must, this no matter, we must defeat Donald Trump and his backwards agenda. Now, in his statement, Warner says that the decision is ultimately up to the DNC delegates, which is just a fact. But all three of those very key senators saying it's Kamala Harris, and I'll add a fourth, since you asked Elizabeth Warren, of course, who ran herself against Joe Biden in 20, 2020, saying that Vice President Harris is the person who was chosen by the voters to succeed Joe Biden. If needed, he can unite our party, take on Donald Trump and win in November. So there, you know, you still have some notable individuals, leaders in the party, potential national figures who have not endorsed Kamala Harris or even mentioned her in their statement. But now you are starting to see a bit of a coalescing, coalescing around the idea that Kamala Harris should be the one on top of the ticket now that Biden is out.John, you were the very first one to report and break the news that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had urged President Biden to step aside. How critical will it be for these democrats to hear from party leaders as serious voices in this party, like the Clintons, like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Jim Clyburn, even Nancy Pelosi?Well, I think it's incredibly important. These are, these are the leaders of the party. And I believe what you will see from them is an idea that this process, which is obviously has to be expedited, needs to be orderly. There still is a view among some of those leaders you just mentioned that it's actually best for, for Kamala Harris if she is to be ultimately the nominee or for whoever it is, to have some kind of a process and it not be seen simply as a coronation, a hand. And you're the one, Kamala Harris, to have some kind of a process. I would be surprised if there is a serious challenge mounted to Kamala Harris, but they have to go through this. The delegates ultimately have to vote. As we talked about earlier, Rachel, Kamala Harris doesn't have a single delegate right now. Those were Biden delegates. It was Joe Biden that ran in the primaries. It was Joe Biden that got 14 million votes in the democratic primary. Now, the point that Elizabeth Warren mentioned in her statement is Kamala Harris obviously was chosen by the delegates in 2020 and she won and was elected vice president, president in November of 2020.Voters saying, you know, we're voting for Biden at the top and we're voting for Kamala Harris to replace Biden if anything should happen to him as president. That's different than this process, which is picking your candidate for the next four years. But it's an indication of the strength that she has demonstrated in a national campaign, which none of the other potential candidates we've been talking about have.John, thank you. Important points that you're making that she does not have a single delegate. There's still so many questions and so a lot to play out in this process. And I want to take this now back to our chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce. Mary, we're just talking to John about the importance of democratic leaders weighing in. You reported just moments ago about the Clintons weighing in. Now you're getting word from the Obama's as well.We are, Rachel. And this is declaration of a candidacy for president we've ever seen. But she is running. She has to erase all doubt about that. She has now significant endorsements of President Biden, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, a number, small number, but a number of very key democratic senators, and making it clear she expects that there will be a process. I mean, the delegates have to vote. Whether anybody stands up to run against to several democratic officials, lawmakers, congressional Democrats, governors as well, party officials, even civil rights leaders really trying to rally support here. Have you received a call yet?No, but look, I'm farther down the list. My ego doesn't take me that high, but it's music to my ears because I think that we're going to see a candidate who's a buzz saw ready to roll. And when I looked at the polls before as bad news, they were. Unfortunately for the president, I think we're in a horse race. The first day will be margin of error within a week. I think now the focus is entirely where President Biden wanted it, on Trump, on his cognitive issues, on his literal crimes and misdemeanors, and the fact that we ended the Trump presidency and I was in the room on January 6 with a violent insurrection. The american people need to put that in focus. And now there is a clean braid and an opportunity to do what democrats have wanted to do all along. And that's the focus on what a good candidate she circulating around will be one of many to try to put the focus back on president, former President Trump. You'll remember, Kane, some of the biggest criticisms, criticism of President Biden from that debate, which is now something like 24 days ago, was that he really couldn't sort of clap back at what Donald Trump was saying.And that's exactly what this letter and what their hope is that Kamala Harris will do.Now.I think that's a really interesting point, by the way, you're spot on there on the 24 days. But that was a very, very loud criticism of not only could he not finish sentences and he got lost in some of the things, things he was saying, but he didn't hold counterpoint to some of the statements that were made by former President Donald Trump, many of which have been proved to be untrue. All right, Phil Lipov, thank you always. We always love having you with us. I want to bring in our ABC News presidential historian, Mark Abdur Grove. Mark, just personally, when all this news started breaking today, I have to say, you were one of the first people on my mind. I thought, my goodness, our historian here, he must just be in bewilderment over what we have seen play out. Even though there were whispers growing for weeks that this might happen. Here we are today. So walk us through this moment in american policy and american history.You're so right, Kena. There was a buzz about this possibly happening and yet here it played out and it shows that we are truly in the cross at the crossroads of history. We're caught up in the currents of a very historic year with all that has played out so far this year. We saw the debate, which was, I think, determinative for Joe Biden, that was the turning point in his campaign. That was evidence that he was probably not the man to carry the party forward in 2024. We saw the assassination attempt on President Trump's life, how that changed his trajectory, united the Republican Party. And now we see Joe Biden declining to accept his party's nomination, ostensibly handing the torch over to Kamala Harris. And now the party coalescing around her candidacy despite the fact that she has not yet been crowned as the party's nominee. That looks like where it's going. So all these things are happening with so much more to come before election day in November. Kayna.Well, and also Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket is history making.Just in itself, without question, the first african american woman to head a ticket. Of course, we saw Hillary Clinton's candidacy in 2016, and she got the majority of the vote, but, of course, didn't get the electoral college, and the election went to Donald Trump. But you're so right, Akaina. This is historic for so many reasons. It hearkens back in some ways message to reintroduce her, not only to the party but to the country at large. And so a lot of those conversations are happening right now. But I think everyone already saw this coming. That makes it a lot easier. And so today you're seeing a lot of different calls happen. Support letters will continue and people will start to get the stories out there about not only who she has been dating back to my home state of California, but really what she has done as well in this administration and at the national and global level, which are really important for the country to understand as well.Well, a couple of things do want to share with you. We have some reporting in from Mary Bruce who's saying that the Biden campaign, the infrastructure there is going to stay the same. Right. Everybody's going to stay on. They're going to still have their jobs and that they have filed with the Federal election commission now as Harris for president. So the wheel is already in motion here. And is that sort of what you're talking about? Some of you really, right. You have to dot your I's and cross your t's and do some of those things logistically. Now you've got to get that delegate support.You're exactly right. And in all fairness, a lot of, when you have a president and vice president, a lot of her former team in California moved over to the president's staff and back and forth. And so they have already been working the staff behind the scenes quite a bit. Now, the close inner circle, of course, changes, right. There has been a lot of very senior advisors who have been with Vice president Harris for a long time, back in her days in California, went with her to DC. But the good news is they've now had three years of working together. And so this isn't that big of a change. She's been very close to the congressional black caucus, the president does, as you know, medical doctors, some his first wife and their young daughter, and later his beloved son, Beau. In 2020, Biden felt an obligation to run, spurred by Trump's response to white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia.But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.Biden running as a transitional president.Look, I view myself president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.Exactly.David.Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

stage, should she actually be become the democratic nominee. John Santucci, stay with us. Thank you. John SanTUCcI with that reaction just coming in from the Trump campaign and how they're already preparing, preparing for the possibility that it could be Vice President Kamala Harris that former President Donald Trump faces off against in November. I want to bring now in our ABC White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks. Mary Alice, you have been keeping your ear to the ground, talking to sources within the Democratic Party, but also hearing from delegates who have a lot of questions about how this plays out going forward.

Yeah, Rachel, I just got off the phone with one democratic state party chair who told me that he was not given a heads up to this news, which is obviously a big deal concerning the fact all, everything we've been talking about for the last hour. But interesting, he did say that he was given a call from the Biden universe or the minute after the news broke, the Biden team wanting to make sure that he was aware of the news, but also that he was checking in with the delegates from his state. Obviously, the conversation, the mechanics of this nomination turned to those delegates like we've been talking about. The state party chair said that in the conversation he's been having with his delegates from his state, I should say it's a large democratic state. So far, all the Biden delegates telling him, telling me that they will cede to these marching orders from the president, that they will back Harris. That is their intention. Like we've been talking about on the air, like you've been talking about with all of your guests. This is a fluid situation. Anything could happen if all of a sudden we get another name from a governor, a popular member of the Senate, actually challenging Harris.

We will have to, you, of course, go back to these delegates. But in our initial reporting, in my initial reporting, I can tell you that so far, we're hearing these Biden delegates saying that it is in their best interest to stick with the president or to stick with Harris because that's what the president asked them to do. I also talked to one longtime DNC leader who told me that when it comes to vetting, he really believes the party has to stick with Harris because she is the only one that has truly been vetted. You know, I asked about governors, senators and people that are high profile figures. Surely they have been vetted. But he insisted to me it's just nothing the same that a vice president who has been on a national ticket has been vetted across the board and that right now the Democratic Party just cannot risk a mistake here and that even a governor, this one DNC leader, sort of opined to me even a governor could, in theory, have some skeleton in the closet that he said the party just should not take that kind of risk. One interesting thing, though, will be not only, of course, who she picks as a running maid once she announces her candidacy, but this question of superdelegates, I mean, this is getting in the weeds, but we don't know exactly if superdelegates, those elected party officials will be able to vote on the first ballot or not.

They have not formalized the rules around that virtual roll call, around any roll call. We know that those rules were set to be put in place this week. So at this stage, Rachel, we are going to be tracking every meeting that the convention staff has, that the DNC party staff has as they have to rewrite these rules or vote on these rules with such a different sense of urgency, with such a different political landscape.

Rachel.

Yeah.

Mary Alison, I know you personally will be tracking that for us as well. I want to go back to our chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl. Jonathan, you know, I've been thinking about some of the conversations that I was having on Capitol Hill with many senators, and there were some senators who didn't want to come out publicly and call on the president to step aside until there was sort of this plan in place, place on who potentially would step up and become the democratic nominee. We've been following these movements in real time. This breaking news, the president announcing he's going to step aside. Then we saw that post on social media, the president then endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. And then it was sort of this silence from some of these statements where they were commending President Biden but not necessarily jumping to the defense or endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the. Has that change in the span of the last few minutes?

It's starting to change, Rachel. We're starting to see statements from some key senators that are not only commending Joe Biden for taking the decision, sacrificing his campaign to get out of a race they believed he was going to lose, but also endorsing Kamala Harris. Let me just mention a few key ones. Tammy Baldwin, the democratic senator from the ever so important state of Wisconsin, put out just blanket endorsement today. I'm proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president of the United States. And then we have the two senators from Virginia, another key state Democrats must hold if they're going to win in November. Tim Kaine, of course, who had been Hillary Clinton's running mate, saying in his statement, I'm looking forward, forward to working with my friend Kamala Harris and a great ticketmate to keep Virginia Blue and the senior senator from the state of Virginia, Mark Warner, putting out his statement again, praising Joe Biden, saying, the nation owes Joe Biden a debt of gratitude. But when he's done with all that, he ends his statement by saying, I believe Vice President Harris has the experience, energy and resolve to lead our nation.

And we must, this no matter, we must defeat Donald Trump and his backwards agenda. Now, in his statement, Warner says that the decision is ultimately up to the DNC delegates, which is just a fact. But all three of those very key senators saying it's Kamala Harris, and I'll add a fourth, since you asked Elizabeth Warren, of course, who ran herself against Joe Biden in 20, 2020, saying that Vice President Harris is the person who was chosen by the voters to succeed Joe Biden. If needed, he can unite our party, take on Donald Trump and win in November. So there, you know, you still have some notable individuals, leaders in the party, potential national figures who have not endorsed Kamala Harris or even mentioned her in their statement. But now you are starting to see a bit of a coalescing, coalescing around the idea that Kamala Harris should be the one on top of the ticket now that Biden is out.

John, you were the very first one to report and break the news that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had urged President Biden to step aside. How critical will it be for these democrats to hear from party leaders as serious voices in this party, like the Clintons, like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Jim Clyburn, even Nancy Pelosi?

Well, I think it's incredibly important. These are, these are the leaders of the party. And I believe what you will see from them is an idea that this process, which is obviously has to be expedited, needs to be orderly. There still is a view among some of those leaders you just mentioned that it's actually best for, for Kamala Harris if she is to be ultimately the nominee or for whoever it is, to have some kind of a process and it not be seen simply as a coronation, a hand. And you're the one, Kamala Harris, to have some kind of a process. I would be surprised if there is a serious challenge mounted to Kamala Harris, but they have to go through this. The delegates ultimately have to vote. As we talked about earlier, Rachel, Kamala Harris doesn't have a single delegate right now. Those were Biden delegates. It was Joe Biden that ran in the primaries. It was Joe Biden that got 14 million votes in the democratic primary. Now, the point that Elizabeth Warren mentioned in her statement is Kamala Harris obviously was chosen by the delegates in 2020 and she won and was elected vice president, president in November of 2020.

Voters saying, you know, we're voting for Biden at the top and we're voting for Kamala Harris to replace Biden if anything should happen to him as president. That's different than this process, which is picking your candidate for the next four years. But it's an indication of the strength that she has demonstrated in a national campaign, which none of the other potential candidates we've been talking about have.

John, thank you. Important points that you're making that she does not have a single delegate. There's still so many questions and so a lot to play out in this process. And I want to take this now back to our chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce. Mary, we're just talking to John about the importance of democratic leaders weighing in. You reported just moments ago about the Clintons weighing in. Now you're getting word from the Obama's as well.

We are, Rachel. And this is declaration of a candidacy for president we've ever seen. But she is running. She has to erase all doubt about that. She has now significant endorsements of President Biden, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, a number, small number, but a number of very key democratic senators, and making it clear she expects that there will be a process. I mean, the delegates have to vote. Whether anybody stands up to run against to several democratic officials, lawmakers, congressional Democrats, governors as well, party officials, even civil rights leaders really trying to rally support here. Have you received a call yet?No, but look, I'm farther down the list. My ego doesn't take me that high, but it's music to my ears because I think that we're going to see a candidate who's a buzz saw ready to roll. And when I looked at the polls before as bad news, they were. Unfortunately for the president, I think we're in a horse race. The first day will be margin of error within a week. I think now the focus is entirely where President Biden wanted it, on Trump, on his cognitive issues, on his literal crimes and misdemeanors, and the fact that we ended the Trump presidency and I was in the room on January 6 with a violent insurrection. The american people need to put that in focus. And now there is a clean braid and an opportunity to do what democrats have wanted to do all along. And that's the focus on what a good candidate she circulating around will be one of many to try to put the focus back on president, former President Trump. You'll remember, Kane, some of the biggest criticisms, criticism of President Biden from that debate, which is now something like 24 days ago, was that he really couldn't sort of clap back at what Donald Trump was saying.And that's exactly what this letter and what their hope is that Kamala Harris will do.Now.I think that's a really interesting point, by the way, you're spot on there on the 24 days. But that was a very, very loud criticism of not only could he not finish sentences and he got lost in some of the things, things he was saying, but he didn't hold counterpoint to some of the statements that were made by former President Donald Trump, many of which have been proved to be untrue. All right, Phil Lipov, thank you always. We always love having you with us. I want to bring in our ABC News presidential historian, Mark Abdur Grove. Mark, just personally, when all this news started breaking today, I have to say, you were one of the first people on my mind. I thought, my goodness, our historian here, he must just be in bewilderment over what we have seen play out. Even though there were whispers growing for weeks that this might happen. Here we are today. So walk us through this moment in american policy and american history.You're so right, Kena. There was a buzz about this possibly happening and yet here it played out and it shows that we are truly in the cross at the crossroads of history. We're caught up in the currents of a very historic year with all that has played out so far this year. We saw the debate, which was, I think, determinative for Joe Biden, that was the turning point in his campaign. That was evidence that he was probably not the man to carry the party forward in 2024. We saw the assassination attempt on President Trump's life, how that changed his trajectory, united the Republican Party. And now we see Joe Biden declining to accept his party's nomination, ostensibly handing the torch over to Kamala Harris. And now the party coalescing around her candidacy despite the fact that she has not yet been crowned as the party's nominee. That looks like where it's going. So all these things are happening with so much more to come before election day in November. Kayna.Well, and also Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket is history making.Just in itself, without question, the first african american woman to head a ticket. Of course, we saw Hillary Clinton's candidacy in 2016, and she got the majority of the vote, but, of course, didn't get the electoral college, and the election went to Donald Trump. But you're so right, Akaina. This is historic for so many reasons. It hearkens back in some ways message to reintroduce her, not only to the party but to the country at large. And so a lot of those conversations are happening right now. But I think everyone already saw this coming. That makes it a lot easier. And so today you're seeing a lot of different calls happen. Support letters will continue and people will start to get the stories out there about not only who she has been dating back to my home state of California, but really what she has done as well in this administration and at the national and global level, which are really important for the country to understand as well.Well, a couple of things do want to share with you. We have some reporting in from Mary Bruce who's saying that the Biden campaign, the infrastructure there is going to stay the same. Right. Everybody's going to stay on. They're going to still have their jobs and that they have filed with the Federal election commission now as Harris for president. So the wheel is already in motion here. And is that sort of what you're talking about? Some of you really, right. You have to dot your I's and cross your t's and do some of those things logistically. Now you've got to get that delegate support.You're exactly right. And in all fairness, a lot of, when you have a president and vice president, a lot of her former team in California moved over to the president's staff and back and forth. And so they have already been working the staff behind the scenes quite a bit. Now, the close inner circle, of course, changes, right. There has been a lot of very senior advisors who have been with Vice president Harris for a long time, back in her days in California, went with her to DC. But the good news is they've now had three years of working together. And so this isn't that big of a change. She's been very close to the congressional black caucus, the president does, as you know, medical doctors, some his first wife and their young daughter, and later his beloved son, Beau. In 2020, Biden felt an obligation to run, spurred by Trump's response to white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia.But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.Biden running as a transitional president.Look, I view myself president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.Exactly.David.Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

declaration of a candidacy for president we've ever seen. But she is running. She has to erase all doubt about that. She has now significant endorsements of President Biden, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, a number, small number, but a number of very key democratic senators, and making it clear she expects that there will be a process. I mean, the delegates have to vote. Whether anybody stands up to run against to several democratic officials, lawmakers, congressional Democrats, governors as well, party officials, even civil rights leaders really trying to rally support here. Have you received a call yet?No, but look, I'm farther down the list. My ego doesn't take me that high, but it's music to my ears because I think that we're going to see a candidate who's a buzz saw ready to roll. And when I looked at the polls before as bad news, they were. Unfortunately for the president, I think we're in a horse race. The first day will be margin of error within a week. I think now the focus is entirely where President Biden wanted it, on Trump, on his cognitive issues, on his literal crimes and misdemeanors, and the fact that we ended the Trump presidency and I was in the room on January 6 with a violent insurrection. The american people need to put that in focus. And now there is a clean braid and an opportunity to do what democrats have wanted to do all along. And that's the focus on what a good candidate she circulating around will be one of many to try to put the focus back on president, former President Trump. You'll remember, Kane, some of the biggest criticisms, criticism of President Biden from that debate, which is now something like 24 days ago, was that he really couldn't sort of clap back at what Donald Trump was saying.And that's exactly what this letter and what their hope is that Kamala Harris will do.Now.I think that's a really interesting point, by the way, you're spot on there on the 24 days. But that was a very, very loud criticism of not only could he not finish sentences and he got lost in some of the things, things he was saying, but he didn't hold counterpoint to some of the statements that were made by former President Donald Trump, many of which have been proved to be untrue. All right, Phil Lipov, thank you always. We always love having you with us. I want to bring in our ABC News presidential historian, Mark Abdur Grove. Mark, just personally, when all this news started breaking today, I have to say, you were one of the first people on my mind. I thought, my goodness, our historian here, he must just be in bewilderment over what we have seen play out. Even though there were whispers growing for weeks that this might happen. Here we are today. So walk us through this moment in american policy and american history.You're so right, Kena. There was a buzz about this possibly happening and yet here it played out and it shows that we are truly in the cross at the crossroads of history. We're caught up in the currents of a very historic year with all that has played out so far this year. We saw the debate, which was, I think, determinative for Joe Biden, that was the turning point in his campaign. That was evidence that he was probably not the man to carry the party forward in 2024. We saw the assassination attempt on President Trump's life, how that changed his trajectory, united the Republican Party. And now we see Joe Biden declining to accept his party's nomination, ostensibly handing the torch over to Kamala Harris. And now the party coalescing around her candidacy despite the fact that she has not yet been crowned as the party's nominee. That looks like where it's going. So all these things are happening with so much more to come before election day in November. Kayna.Well, and also Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket is history making.Just in itself, without question, the first african american woman to head a ticket. Of course, we saw Hillary Clinton's candidacy in 2016, and she got the majority of the vote, but, of course, didn't get the electoral college, and the election went to Donald Trump. But you're so right, Akaina. This is historic for so many reasons. It hearkens back in some ways message to reintroduce her, not only to the party but to the country at large. And so a lot of those conversations are happening right now. But I think everyone already saw this coming. That makes it a lot easier. And so today you're seeing a lot of different calls happen. Support letters will continue and people will start to get the stories out there about not only who she has been dating back to my home state of California, but really what she has done as well in this administration and at the national and global level, which are really important for the country to understand as well.Well, a couple of things do want to share with you. We have some reporting in from Mary Bruce who's saying that the Biden campaign, the infrastructure there is going to stay the same. Right. Everybody's going to stay on. They're going to still have their jobs and that they have filed with the Federal election commission now as Harris for president. So the wheel is already in motion here. And is that sort of what you're talking about? Some of you really, right. You have to dot your I's and cross your t's and do some of those things logistically. Now you've got to get that delegate support.You're exactly right. And in all fairness, a lot of, when you have a president and vice president, a lot of her former team in California moved over to the president's staff and back and forth. And so they have already been working the staff behind the scenes quite a bit. Now, the close inner circle, of course, changes, right. There has been a lot of very senior advisors who have been with Vice president Harris for a long time, back in her days in California, went with her to DC. But the good news is they've now had three years of working together. And so this isn't that big of a change. She's been very close to the congressional black caucus, the president does, as you know, medical doctors, some his first wife and their young daughter, and later his beloved son, Beau. In 2020, Biden felt an obligation to run, spurred by Trump's response to white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia.But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.Biden running as a transitional president.Look, I view myself president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.Exactly.David.Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

to several democratic officials, lawmakers, congressional Democrats, governors as well, party officials, even civil rights leaders really trying to rally support here. Have you received a call yet?

No, but look, I'm farther down the list. My ego doesn't take me that high, but it's music to my ears because I think that we're going to see a candidate who's a buzz saw ready to roll. And when I looked at the polls before as bad news, they were. Unfortunately for the president, I think we're in a horse race. The first day will be margin of error within a week. I think now the focus is entirely where President Biden wanted it, on Trump, on his cognitive issues, on his literal crimes and misdemeanors, and the fact that we ended the Trump presidency and I was in the room on January 6 with a violent insurrection. The american people need to put that in focus. And now there is a clean braid and an opportunity to do what democrats have wanted to do all along. And that's the focus on what a good candidate she circulating around will be one of many to try to put the focus back on president, former President Trump. You'll remember, Kane, some of the biggest criticisms, criticism of President Biden from that debate, which is now something like 24 days ago, was that he really couldn't sort of clap back at what Donald Trump was saying.And that's exactly what this letter and what their hope is that Kamala Harris will do.Now.I think that's a really interesting point, by the way, you're spot on there on the 24 days. But that was a very, very loud criticism of not only could he not finish sentences and he got lost in some of the things, things he was saying, but he didn't hold counterpoint to some of the statements that were made by former President Donald Trump, many of which have been proved to be untrue. All right, Phil Lipov, thank you always. We always love having you with us. I want to bring in our ABC News presidential historian, Mark Abdur Grove. Mark, just personally, when all this news started breaking today, I have to say, you were one of the first people on my mind. I thought, my goodness, our historian here, he must just be in bewilderment over what we have seen play out. Even though there were whispers growing for weeks that this might happen. Here we are today. So walk us through this moment in american policy and american history.You're so right, Kena. There was a buzz about this possibly happening and yet here it played out and it shows that we are truly in the cross at the crossroads of history. We're caught up in the currents of a very historic year with all that has played out so far this year. We saw the debate, which was, I think, determinative for Joe Biden, that was the turning point in his campaign. That was evidence that he was probably not the man to carry the party forward in 2024. We saw the assassination attempt on President Trump's life, how that changed his trajectory, united the Republican Party. And now we see Joe Biden declining to accept his party's nomination, ostensibly handing the torch over to Kamala Harris. And now the party coalescing around her candidacy despite the fact that she has not yet been crowned as the party's nominee. That looks like where it's going. So all these things are happening with so much more to come before election day in November. Kayna.Well, and also Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket is history making.Just in itself, without question, the first african american woman to head a ticket. Of course, we saw Hillary Clinton's candidacy in 2016, and she got the majority of the vote, but, of course, didn't get the electoral college, and the election went to Donald Trump. But you're so right, Akaina. This is historic for so many reasons. It hearkens back in some ways message to reintroduce her, not only to the party but to the country at large. And so a lot of those conversations are happening right now. But I think everyone already saw this coming. That makes it a lot easier. And so today you're seeing a lot of different calls happen. Support letters will continue and people will start to get the stories out there about not only who she has been dating back to my home state of California, but really what she has done as well in this administration and at the national and global level, which are really important for the country to understand as well.Well, a couple of things do want to share with you. We have some reporting in from Mary Bruce who's saying that the Biden campaign, the infrastructure there is going to stay the same. Right. Everybody's going to stay on. They're going to still have their jobs and that they have filed with the Federal election commission now as Harris for president. So the wheel is already in motion here. And is that sort of what you're talking about? Some of you really, right. You have to dot your I's and cross your t's and do some of those things logistically. Now you've got to get that delegate support.You're exactly right. And in all fairness, a lot of, when you have a president and vice president, a lot of her former team in California moved over to the president's staff and back and forth. And so they have already been working the staff behind the scenes quite a bit. Now, the close inner circle, of course, changes, right. There has been a lot of very senior advisors who have been with Vice president Harris for a long time, back in her days in California, went with her to DC. But the good news is they've now had three years of working together. And so this isn't that big of a change. She's been very close to the congressional black caucus, the president does, as you know, medical doctors, some his first wife and their young daughter, and later his beloved son, Beau. In 2020, Biden felt an obligation to run, spurred by Trump's response to white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia.But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.Biden running as a transitional president.Look, I view myself president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.Exactly.David.Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

circulating around will be one of many to try to put the focus back on president, former President Trump. You'll remember, Kane, some of the biggest criticisms, criticism of President Biden from that debate, which is now something like 24 days ago, was that he really couldn't sort of clap back at what Donald Trump was saying.

And that's exactly what this letter and what their hope is that Kamala Harris will do.

Now.

I think that's a really interesting point, by the way, you're spot on there on the 24 days. But that was a very, very loud criticism of not only could he not finish sentences and he got lost in some of the things, things he was saying, but he didn't hold counterpoint to some of the statements that were made by former President Donald Trump, many of which have been proved to be untrue. All right, Phil Lipov, thank you always. We always love having you with us. I want to bring in our ABC News presidential historian, Mark Abdur Grove. Mark, just personally, when all this news started breaking today, I have to say, you were one of the first people on my mind. I thought, my goodness, our historian here, he must just be in bewilderment over what we have seen play out. Even though there were whispers growing for weeks that this might happen. Here we are today. So walk us through this moment in american policy and american history.

You're so right, Kena. There was a buzz about this possibly happening and yet here it played out and it shows that we are truly in the cross at the crossroads of history. We're caught up in the currents of a very historic year with all that has played out so far this year. We saw the debate, which was, I think, determinative for Joe Biden, that was the turning point in his campaign. That was evidence that he was probably not the man to carry the party forward in 2024. We saw the assassination attempt on President Trump's life, how that changed his trajectory, united the Republican Party. And now we see Joe Biden declining to accept his party's nomination, ostensibly handing the torch over to Kamala Harris. And now the party coalescing around her candidacy despite the fact that she has not yet been crowned as the party's nominee. That looks like where it's going. So all these things are happening with so much more to come before election day in November. Kayna.

Well, and also Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket is history making.

Just in itself, without question, the first african american woman to head a ticket. Of course, we saw Hillary Clinton's candidacy in 2016, and she got the majority of the vote, but, of course, didn't get the electoral college, and the election went to Donald Trump. But you're so right, Akaina. This is historic for so many reasons. It hearkens back in some ways message to reintroduce her, not only to the party but to the country at large. And so a lot of those conversations are happening right now. But I think everyone already saw this coming. That makes it a lot easier. And so today you're seeing a lot of different calls happen. Support letters will continue and people will start to get the stories out there about not only who she has been dating back to my home state of California, but really what she has done as well in this administration and at the national and global level, which are really important for the country to understand as well.Well, a couple of things do want to share with you. We have some reporting in from Mary Bruce who's saying that the Biden campaign, the infrastructure there is going to stay the same. Right. Everybody's going to stay on. They're going to still have their jobs and that they have filed with the Federal election commission now as Harris for president. So the wheel is already in motion here. And is that sort of what you're talking about? Some of you really, right. You have to dot your I's and cross your t's and do some of those things logistically. Now you've got to get that delegate support.You're exactly right. And in all fairness, a lot of, when you have a president and vice president, a lot of her former team in California moved over to the president's staff and back and forth. And so they have already been working the staff behind the scenes quite a bit. Now, the close inner circle, of course, changes, right. There has been a lot of very senior advisors who have been with Vice president Harris for a long time, back in her days in California, went with her to DC. But the good news is they've now had three years of working together. And so this isn't that big of a change. She's been very close to the congressional black caucus, the president does, as you know, medical doctors, some his first wife and their young daughter, and later his beloved son, Beau. In 2020, Biden felt an obligation to run, spurred by Trump's response to white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia.But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.Biden running as a transitional president.Look, I view myself president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.Exactly.David.Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

message to reintroduce her, not only to the party but to the country at large. And so a lot of those conversations are happening right now. But I think everyone already saw this coming. That makes it a lot easier. And so today you're seeing a lot of different calls happen. Support letters will continue and people will start to get the stories out there about not only who she has been dating back to my home state of California, but really what she has done as well in this administration and at the national and global level, which are really important for the country to understand as well.

Well, a couple of things do want to share with you. We have some reporting in from Mary Bruce who's saying that the Biden campaign, the infrastructure there is going to stay the same. Right. Everybody's going to stay on. They're going to still have their jobs and that they have filed with the Federal election commission now as Harris for president. So the wheel is already in motion here. And is that sort of what you're talking about? Some of you really, right. You have to dot your I's and cross your t's and do some of those things logistically. Now you've got to get that delegate support.

You're exactly right. And in all fairness, a lot of, when you have a president and vice president, a lot of her former team in California moved over to the president's staff and back and forth. And so they have already been working the staff behind the scenes quite a bit. Now, the close inner circle, of course, changes, right. There has been a lot of very senior advisors who have been with Vice president Harris for a long time, back in her days in California, went with her to DC. But the good news is they've now had three years of working together. And so this isn't that big of a change. She's been very close to the congressional black caucus, the president does, as you know, medical doctors, some his first wife and their young daughter, and later his beloved son, Beau. In 2020, Biden felt an obligation to run, spurred by Trump's response to white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia.But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.Biden running as a transitional president.Look, I view myself president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.Exactly.David.Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

president does, as you know, medical doctors, some his first wife and their young daughter, and later his beloved son, Beau. In 2020, Biden felt an obligation to run, spurred by Trump's response to white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia.But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.Biden running as a transitional president.Look, I view myself president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.Exactly.David.Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

his first wife and their young daughter, and later his beloved son, Beau. In 2020, Biden felt an obligation to run, spurred by Trump's response to white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia.

But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.

Biden running as a transitional president.

Look, I view myself president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.Exactly.David.Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

president in Delaware outside his Rehoboth beach home. And, Selena, we know Vice President Kamala Harris is already trying to rally support among democratic leaders. She's been working the phones all afternoon and evening.

Exactly.

David.

Vice President Kamala Harris is already full steam ahead. We're learning that in just these last few hours she's been working to shore up support, making calls to democratic leaders, party leaders and members of Congress. Now, Vice President Harris, she's already been this administration's leading voice when it comes to these issues that are central to this election, like immigration and abortion. And, David, if she does become the nominee, this would be historic. She would be the first black woman and the first asian American. She's also already been in critical meetings with President Biden throughout her vice presidency. And this week she is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you say, David, she is full steam ahead. She is already fundraising off of this announcement. She says she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and defeat Donald Trump. Harris is clearly already hitting the ground running. David.

And Selena, in the meantime, I know you're there in Rehoboth beach. Any indication from the White House, from the Biden campaign? What was the Biden campaign as to when they think the president will make the trip back to Washington, DC, back to the White House and when we might perhaps see, hear him address the nation?

Well, David, I am learning from a senior administration source that the president is expected to address the nation sometime later this week, not in the coming days, I'm told, later in the week. And we did hear from the president's doctor today, said he is still isolating, but his symptoms are improving significantly. So that is a step up from what we heard the day before when the doctor said he still had some hoarseness and a loose cough. Now, the president, though, he has been here for several days already, and you can just imagine how difficult it was for him to make this decision. One of the hardest political decisions of his very, very long career while he was isolated, all alone and sick have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

have a new oldest party nominee in the history of american politics. And it's not Joe Biden, it's Donald Trump.

Really interesting. So the age question, the fitness question now is squarely focused on the former President Donald Trump. For those who are moving forward and are looking at age as an issue. And even President Biden had always said it's a perfectly fair question. John, you were on the air with me all throughout the Republican National Convention last week. Donald Trump told you that he had thrown out the script, it was going to be about unity. After that horrific event in Pennsylvania, that he survived the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, we took note that he did speak of unity, unity particularly at the beginning of the speech. But then the speech took a turn and a very long turn. And it was a reminder for those who might have been looking for a speech solely about unity, that many of the other things that Donald Trump talked about during his acceptance speech at the convention were very common sort of arguments he makes on the campaign trail. And Democrats, we had asked that night after the speech, while we were doing analysis among us, you included, John, whether or not Democrats would look at that and say, well, wait a minute, that actually is a familiar playbook.

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the unity talk that was Monday that I spoke to former President Trump, he had said he had ripped up the old convention speech and that when he came out on Thursday, that week, that it would be a note of unity. And you saw a degree of unity during the beginning of the convention. There was no talk of the stolen election. There were no real hard edged attacks or very few hard edged attacks on Joe Biden. That was gone by the time he got halfway through or a third of the way through Donald Trump's speech. It was gone when he was out campaigning in Michigan with JD Vance over the weekend, just yesterday. But now I think you really see Donald Trump and the tone of his social media postings. You know, he is fully back to the Donald Trump that we knew well and saw well in both of his previous presidential campaigns. And frankly, as president.

John, let me ask you about the campaign as it moves forward. Obviously, they're assuming on the Trump side that it's going to be Kamala Harris, given members of the Democratic Party who come out tonight to endorse her, former President Clinton, former secretary of state Clinton, among the many. I did take note here that the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, they have not come out to endorse. They had very warm, supportive words for President Biden and what they say he did for the nation when it mattered most, also talking about his decision to step down and the weight of that decision and what that signals from him. But in the meantime, what do you think that they make as far as moving forward, the calculation on the Trump's side, as far as going after Kamala Harris and try to figure out who she might select, if it is her?

Well, David, first of all, I would not take the lack of an endorsement from Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi as a real, really about having doubts about Kamala Harris. Look, Pelosi and Obama are really arguably the two most important senior statesmen in the democratic party right now. There needs to be a process going forward. Kamala Harris herself has referred to a process going forward of not simply being anointed, but having to be. The delegates have to vote for her. As we pointed out, she doesn't have a single pledged delegate. So I think that Pelosi and Obama are really President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

President Biden. But in recent weeks, they were starting to see some erosion, even in that respect.

You can outperform the top of the ticket a little bit, but you can't. There's only so much. If the president's really going down, that's the top of the ticket, made it very hard for those Senate candidates, those sitting senators running for reelection to win. That's why some of the first senators, David, that you saw come out to say Joe Biden publicly, to say Joe Biden needs to get out. Were the senators running in tough states? John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, chief among them, John.

Carl with us here tonight for a special coverage. John, thank you. So what's this going to look like under a month now until the Democratic National Convention? Hard to believe. We've just left Milwaukee and the Republican National Convention, the big story of this week. And, of course, President Biden deciding to step down in this race for president. So let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Terry Moran. And Terry, it's kind of an impossible question to answer, but what will this convention look like? There have been all sorts of ideas August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

August 19. So we're trying to ensure that our nominee will have the ability to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia. As we speak, my friends are sending me note. So I want to let John call know that tomorrow the Nebraska delegates will make their consideration. Alabama has made theirs. My beloved officer, Louisiana. I'm going to get on the phone with all of the DC delegates to ensure that she's able to get the delegates that she needs to have her name place in nomination.

This process is open. It's open. It's transferable. Look, the president today at 145, I may not have the right time, but he decided to drop out of the race. He also decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris name is not on the ballot with regards to delegate. So she will have to secure their nomination. She needs 300 delegates to put her name into nomination and she will need over 1980 delegates in order to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party. We're going to work very hard. I support Kamala Harris. I know there may be some other candidates that decide to get in a race, but I will support Kamala Harris in an open and transparent process.

So just to explain this to the viewers, Donna, and you did a great job there. But I just want to make sure everybody's even before the nomination you, because there are some states and the dates on the calendar, you've got to make sure that their delegates are heard even before the convention so that their numbers count, too in coming up with a nominee. So even though that process begins now, some are going to say, well, wait a minute, we just heard the vice president say, I want to earn this. I want to win this nomination. If the process begins so soon, where does the winning and the earnings income? Or is that just simply part of this on this sort of rollout of this process?

Well, as you well know Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 2020. They received over 81 million votes. Joe Biden ran with Kamala Harris this year as his running mate, and they received over 14 million votes. Those votes are now translated into delegates. There are over 4000 delegates to the 2024 democratic convention. But in order to get on the ballot in all 50 states in the District of Columbia, the nominee of the party must be handed this nomination before August 7. And when I say August 7, we have to take into consideration the Ohio deadline, also the Washington state deadline, the Oklahoma, Montana, as well as the great state of California, which with 54 electoral votes, their deadline is actually on the night that the next debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

debate with Donald Trump, which sparked concerns about Biden's age and his mental acuity.

And the calls for him to step aside started growing on Wednesday. Then the White House told us that he tested positive for Covid, leaving the campaign trail and returning home to Delaware. You see him doing so in that moment. After deciding early this afternoon to drop out, the president quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's new nominee. Harris vowing to run and win the party's nomination. However, with less than a month until the Democratic national convention, there's a number of questions right now. First of all, will this party unite behind the vice president? So I want to bring in ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks for more on this. Mary Alice, glad to have you with us. You've been reporting all day. And first, what are you hearing right now? You know, about the mood for the White House staff. There has been so many questions swirling around them as well. What can you tell us about how they're moving forward, how they're reacting and when they learned about this news?

Yeah, so many of them learned just minutes before. Others told me they only learned when that tweet was posted. I mean, so many said that they were absolutely blindsided. Look, the reaction was sort of ran the gamut. A lot of White House staff telling me that they were numb, that they were shocked, but also many saying that they were relieved. I Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.You bet.All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

Ohio with the ballot law there, which had a deadline for submitting the name of the major parties nominees. That because the democratic convention's a little late this year, August 19, the democratic nominee would have missed. And so they've changed that law in Ohio, but they may go forward anyway with this virtual roll call, this virtual vote, in order to test Kamala Harris strength. Right. Looks like the partys coalescing around her. But are there any other candidates? Is there dissatisfaction with that? So all 4500 plus delegates will be called on in that virtual roll call through their state delegations. And Kamala Harris needs about 1900 plus of them to get the nomination. If she gets that number. Well, its over. The convention has its nominee, and thats that.

If she doesnt, we're off to the races because that will mean an open convention and it will mean that Democrats havent coalesced around her. The only way that I could see that happening, however, given the Democrats desperation not to have a chaotic process here, but to get somebody in straight to go after President Trump in a unified manner, is if she gets out there over the next couple of weeks and does poorly. You know, she didnt fare well when she ran for president in 2020. She was among the first to drop out well before the Iowa caucuses, even though there had been a debate, and she had really starred in that debate, you know, by giving it to Joe Biden on Bidens record on school bussing, he was opposed to it, to integrate schools in Delaware in the 1970s. And she talked about how she was one of the girls on one of those busses, and it seemed she had the attention of the country for a moment. She just evaporated. Within a few weeks, she was gone. And that was partly because people couldn't quite latch onto who she was. Now, she's had several years experience as vice president.

She's obviously a skilled politician. She won a Senate seat in California, the attorney generalship there as well. But if she didn't perform, if polls show that she wouldn't be a strong candidate against Donald Trump, you may see others take that opportunity. And the roll call that you're talking about. That would be the first test. If all goes as most democrats hope, she'll secure the nomination really through that virtual roll call and they'll turn their attention to Trump. If not, Chicago is going to be really interesting, Kayna.

It certainly will be interesting. You know, we thought that the RNC would be the most interesting convention we ever attended. And here we go. I have to ask you that, you mentioned sand in the gear years in terms of the Republican Party. But I'm also curious what kind of sand would be thrown into the gears here for Democrats if another high ranking Democrat really threw their hat in the ring and says, I'm interested in this nomination.

If they did it quickly, well, you'd have a contest. And that is something, as I say, I think the democratic leadership certainly doesn't want, but democratic voters might, the country might alternate together because this, no matter how they cut it, is going to be, if its Kamala Harris, an anointment of Joe Bidens successor. Americans dont particularly like that we have this system that other countries dont like, where we have all these primaries and caucuses and goes on for months. Well, what you get out of that is you get to know the candidates. You get a sense of who they are, what theyre made of right. In debate. Think of this, this year's Republican Party debates. Obviously, Donald Trump didn't attend, but, and he was the dominant force. But, so all those candidates lined up there, by the end of it all, it was Nikki Haley who had demonstrated, yeah, she's the strongest candidate among those who were trying to take on Trump. Who would have guessed that in January? Maybe a few people, maybe not. It's that crucible of the contest that proves the mettle of the candidates. The Democrats aren't going to do that.

And I think that if somebody were to jump in, they might get really nervous about it, but the country might enjoy the show and get to know whoever would win that candidate a little bit better and perhaps support them more. It is really the way our system works this way. It doesn't. But I think the Democrats would much prefer unity in going after such a strong candidate as former President Trump.

It's interesting, we heard that same criticism here from the Democratic Party, you know, that perhaps they didn't really have a true primary in the beginning anyway. And they sort of told their voters, here's your ticket. And so that left a lot of voters perhaps, maybe not feeling like their voices were really heard in that moment. So here we are. Terry Moran, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate you.

You bet.

All right. I want to now bring in our ABC News executive editorial producer, John Santucci. John, look, we know that the Republicans and Trump himself, they were hoping to face Biden. It was very clear even as last week. How does that change now their strategy as they prepare to perhaps go up against Vice President Kamala Harris here, do you think that they'll be ready to pivot quickly?

Well, they really don't have an option. They've got to pivot and pivot very quickly. Cana, the reality is, as one source close to Donald Trump said to me, well, we've had three and a half years with this guy now, but somebody knew that we need to prepare for now they are prepared in a sense for Kamala Harris. My sources have told me, Kane, that they have been building a Jic book just in case this should happen. And look at one thing, you got to give credit where it's due to Team Trump. They did have an ad ready to go. The super PAC and their RNC very quickly, within about 2 hours, had an ad out there attacking the vice president. I can tell you, Kaina, from my sources that there was a, an ad buy by MAga Inc. That is the Trump aligned super PAC that is supporting the former president. They had an ad buy in three battleground states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, for about $5 million for this coming week, starting tomorrow, that was going to have an ad featuring President Biden. They have since pulled that ad and they have put in its place an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.

The other thing, though, that's a little bit tricky for team is that, look, as I just said, Joe Biden's a known quantity, right? They've obviously gone against him in a debate, several debates, if you go back to 2020. But with Kamala Harris, it's somebody different, somebody quicker, somebody is one person pointed out to me, close to Donald Trump, she's a former prosecutor. We know she's a good debater. So not to say that they're, you know, throwing up their hands in defeat, but they are throwing up their hands in the sense that they know they need to start this overdem and they need to get moving quickly. Kayna.

Well, and John, let me ask you, this is one thing, right, for the Trump campaign to be ready to pivot. Is Donald Trump the man ready to pivot here? John? And I since the Biden Harris administration came into office.As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.

since the Biden Harris administration came into office.

As you know, that's, that's the population of Michigan, Ohio. That is the population of a number of these battleground states. We, as the american people deserve to know who's in this country. So while she says that, you know, she was really focused, focused on the root cause, well, the root cause is that these people wanted to come into the United States, and we need to know who is in this country. So there's a lot to unpack here as, as we've all discussed, but there's just 50 days until early voting is underway. So this is going to be quite a ride, not just from a messaging perspective, but also from a tactical perspective. This is going to be from a brass tax, very different campaign running against Biden than it would be running against Kamala Harris. I think no matter what, Republicans are really going to have to run up the score in these rust Belt states, certainly. And Christina, I'd love for to let you respond directly to what Trisha said there, because there has been a lot of accusations that have come up in the recent months and weeks, but now specifically pointed here at Vice President Harris in this concern from some Americans and some lawmakers that President Biden was, in a way, shielded by his top advisors and that people were really not aware of his mental acuity.

Look, Biden is stepping down. Biden has done more to pass legislation, tackle the student debt crisis, tackle the climate crisis, pass legislation that people said was going to be impossible to get done. He is stepping down because it was going to prove difficult for him as a candidate, not for him as a president. And so I think that the path forward we're seeing Democrats come together, gotten so many phone calls and texts, people incredibly excited and momentum building around Kamala Harris if she is to be the candidate, and that this moment is sort of built for someone like her running against a convicted criminal, a former prosecutor. She is incredibly good at prosecuting the case when it comes to protecting democracy or abortion rights. These two achilles heels of Donald Trump and JD Vance. And actually, Christina, I want to stick with you here for a moment because I want to talk about something that you and I have been speaking about for weeks now. And then, Trisha, I want to make sure I give you a chance to respond to it. Christina, we have talked a little bit about how the Democratic Party could possibly be reinvigorated if there was a change at the top of the ticket.

You work very closely with young voters who have essentially told you, right, that they're going to vote Democrat no matter what, but because that's the party that they support no matter who's at the top of the ticket. But now that there is a change, not only will those voters be reinvigorated, but do you see other people coming to this party as well? Look, we didn't see the numbers post debate change as much as people thought they would because people are so dug in anti Trump or for Trump. But where we are going to see the votes really drive up are from young voters. They are now the largest generational voting bloc. They voted overwhelmingly in favor of Biden. We're also going to see black voters turn up. She also pulls really well with latino voters. So we're really going to see those core constituencies that might sit out this election, election start tuning in and really turning out, which could determine the outcome this election, which is why I think you'll see Trump and Vance really nervous about the potential outcome of election with Harris as the candidate. And, Trisha, I quickly want to let you respond to that.

There's such a low number of undecided voters in this election. It's all going to be about energizing each party's base. Donald Trump is king at that. I think Kamala Harris is going to be better than Joe Biden at that. All right, Tricia and Christina, thank you so much for input. I always appreciate you both. I'm Kayna Whitworth here. And thank you so much for streaming with us. This has been our special coverage on this historic and unprecedented day in american politics and in this country. Our ABC News live special, Biden stands down. The race for the White House is next right here on ABC News live. Stay with us.

With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number one most watched newscast across all of television.