2020 Democratic Primary relative to 2024 Presumptive Nominee

2020 Democratic Primary - Candidates Listed by when the dropped out of the race.

• John Hickenlooper - dropped 8/15/2019
• Kirsten Gillibrand - dropped 8/28/2019
• Beto O'Rourke - dropped 11/1/2019
• Kamala Harris - dropped 12/3/2019
• Cory Booker - dropped 1/13/2020
• Julian Castro - dropped 2/2/2020
• Tom Steyer - dropped 2/29/2020
• Pete Buttigieg - second New Hampshire (24%), won Iowa - dropped 3/1/2020
• Amy Klobuchar - dropped 3/2/2020
• Michael Bloomberg - dropped 3/4/2020
• Elizabeth Warren - dropped 3/5/2020
• Tulsi Gabbard - dropped 3/19/2020
• Bernie Sanders - won New Hampshire (26%), won Nevada, California, Colorado, Utah and Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota - dropped 4/13/2020
• Joe Biden - won South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Washington, Arizona, Florida, Illinois - SECURED NOMINATION

Biden outlasted a strong field in a weird primary season with shutdowns and postponements due to the Coronavirus.  Despite some hangers on, I think the most serious challenges were from Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg.  They all represented different ideas for the party with Sanders and Warren moving further left and Buttigieg being more centrist.  Ultimately, Buttigieg joined the cabinet and Sanders and Warren kept their senate seats.

This walk through history is only interesting in that Biden chose not to run in (or some would say ousted from) the 2024 Democratic Primary essentially handing the reigns to the Vice President.  Sanders (83), Warren (75), Buttigieg (42) all seem relatively spry relative to Biden (82).  I am not certain that they would have made better candidates, nor did they hail from Republican strongholds or swing states.  Buttigieg would be the exception, but he did not win statewide office. Kamala Harris (60) had name recognition and some political achievement to run with during a short campaign.