Now that Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer have exited the race, the 77-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden is the youngest man running in the Democratic primary.
On Sunday, following a dismal showing in South Carolina and fears of an embarrassing performance on Super Tuesday, Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race just two days before the day that could potentially solidify the Democratic Party nominee for president. His announcement followed that of billionaire Tom Steyer, who also failed to win South Carolina despite a massive spending campaign there.
“I have decided to suspend my campaign for President of the United States,” Steyer said on his website. “I no longer see a path to the presidency. But I have always said that win, lose, or draw, I am in this fight. So am I going to continue to work on the issues that got me into this race? Yes, I am. You can count on that. When the Lord closes a door, He opens a window. I will find that window, and I will crawl through it with you.”
With Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg being 78 years old, Joe Biden becomes the youngest man running for the top office by default. On the female side, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is the oldest of the bunch at age 70, followed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) at age 59 and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) at age 38.
Needless to say, the irony that the Democratic Party now only has straight, old, white men as its two frontrunners has not been lost on the general populace.
“If Pete decides to run in 2060 he will still be younger than Bernie is today,” said one Twitter user.
“Buttigieg dropping out leaves Gabbard as the only candidate left in either party who wasn’t alive when Eisenhower was President,” said another.
President Trump himself has gotten in on the trolling action, joking before a crowd at CPAC that Joe Biden would be governing an old folks home if elected president.
“How could you be easier to beat than Joe? The guy can’t put two sentences together,” Trump said. [Biden is] not going to be running the government. He’s just going to be sitting in a home someplace and people are going to be running it for him.”
Will Biden actually win the primary over Bernie Sanders? That wholly depends on how Super Tuesday plays out, with current polls showing Biden gaining on the Democratic Socialist following his big victory in South Carolina over the weekend despite Bernie holding out a lead in key states like California.
“Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has taken a narrow lead over Joe Biden in a nationwide poll of the Democratic primary battle, the March IBD/TIPP Poll finds,” reports Investors Business Daily. “Elizabeth Warren is running a strong third, ahead of Michael Bloomberg. All four candidates held slight edges over President Donald Trump in head-to-head 2020 election matchups. Ahead of Super Tuesday, Bernie Sanders is the clear front-runner. Separate polls show he’s poised to do well in key Super Tuesday states like California and Texas. Joe Biden looks like the only candidate who can stop him after a decisive win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary.”