A majority of Americans polled earlier this year said that they were disappointed with an anticipated Biden v. Trump rematch for the 2024 presidential election, indicating they were not particularly happy with either option. As those concerns mounted and President Joe Biden’s health visibly declined, President Biden announced that he would not seek reelection, and formally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination later this month. That announcement triggered widespread relief, enthusiasm and record-breaking fundraising for Harris’s campaign.

Watch the above video as Dr. Rashad Richey talks about how this decision has energized American voters, particularly young voters and students, and argues that the political energy now favors Kamala Harris.

The following is an excerpt of the above video:

I’m a college professor. I gotta tell you, my college students, they were very apathetic about this election cycle. So was I, many people were, and let’s make no mistake about it, Biden was elected in the Democratic primary because of the electability argument, they just believed he was more electable against Donald Trump, possibly correct. But every political cycle has its changes. And there’s a change in this political cycle.

After the decision was made for Kamala Harris to become the presidential nominee, de facto, even my college students had a different energy, it was excitement. And then look at what happened immediately afterwards, the 44,000-plus Black women on a call, and then you had the white women in Florida in the golf carts, and now you got white dudes actually raising money [for Harris], we’re talking about millions and millions of dollars, the volunteerism is through the roof. The fundraising is record-breaking, the energy has shifted.

But what if this is bigger than Trump and Harris? What if this has always been bigger than them?