Trump’s campaign quickly pivots to Harris after Biden announces decision to leave the race

Follow AP’s live coverage of President Joe Biden’s announcement that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign has spent the last year-and-a-half viciously attacking Joe Biden, ridiculing his policies, mocking his fumbles and relishing a rematch they felt they were winning.

But they have also spent weeks preparing for the possibility that Biden might exit the race, readying a bevy of attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris that they unleashed as soon as Biden made his stunning announcement Sunday that he would step aside. Biden soon after endorsed Harris, who was quickly winning support from Democrats to be the party’s nominee.

“Rest assured, we are 100% ready,” Trump pollster and senior adviser Tony Fabrizio said at last week’s Republican National Convention. He noted speakers at the event often referred to the “Biden-Harris” administration in their speeches and said the campaign had prepared anti-Harris videos to swap in just in case Biden stepped down sooner.

Still, the shakeup less than four months before Election Day lays out new challenges for Trump’s team, which had until recently been focused on contrasting the former president’s vigor and mental acuity with Biden’s. Trump will now face a new, yet-to-be-determined opponent at a time when voters have made clear that they are frustrated by their current choices and desperate for new, younger options.

What to know:

• Biden drops out: The president ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris after a disastrous debate inflamed age concerns. Read Biden’s letter announcing his withdrawal.
• What happens next: How Biden passing the baton to Harris might work.
• Praise, calls for resignation: Democrats