Democrats packed into Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia for the new Democratic ticket’s first rally. Earlier that morning, news broke that Vice President Kamala Harris had picked Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. The choice simultaneously carried undertones of 2008, when the younger Barack Obama chose an older, white, generic politician in Senator Joe Biden, and 2016, when Hillary Clinton picked the low-name-ID Senator Tim Kaine to appear moderate. Notably absent from this rally, however, was the now-President Joe Biden, known for playing up his Pennsylvania roots.

More than two and a half weeks since Biden dropped out of the 2024 election, the public continues to have zero answers as to why and how Biden came to his decision. The only justification provided thus far came in the president’s Oval Office address the night of July 25: “saving our democracy.”

“I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America's future all merited a second term,” Biden claimed in his short address, “but nothing—nothing—can come in the way of saving our democracy.”

While Biden believes he deserves a second term, Harris and the Democrats clearly do not. If it wasn’t obvious enough when they openly orchestrated a coup against the sitting president, Biden continues to be sidelined from the Harris campaign. Despite unveiling the 2024 ticket in the Scranton-born Biden’s own backyard, Harris and the Democrats preferred Biden remain on Pennsylvania Ave. rather than make the short trip to the Keystone State.