WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden abandoned the 2024 race to the White House on Sunday, ending his re-election bid after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about the incumbent’s fitness for office. The unprecedented announcement, made less than four months before the election, immediately upended a campaign that both political parties consider the most important in generations.
The president – intent on serving out the remainder of his term – quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take on Trump and encouraged his party to unite behind her, making her the party’s immediate favorite for the presidential nomination. its August convention in Chicago.
The announcement is the latest jolt in a tumultuous campaign for the White House, which comes a week after the assassination attempt of Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.
A party’s presumptive presidential nominee has never dropped out of the race so close to the election. President Lyndon Johnson, besieged by the Vietnam War, announced in March 1968 that he would not seek another term after just a single state’s primaries. Biden’s decision in July comes after more than 14 million Democrats voted to support him during the primary process.
Harris, in a statement, praised Biden’s “selfless and patriotic act” and said she intends to “win and achieve” her party’s nomination.
“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party – and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” she said.
Biden’s decision to withdraw came after mounting pressure from his Democratic allies to step aside after the June 27th debatein which the 81-year-old president stopped, often gave absurd answers and failed to get the former president’s attention many falsehoods.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. And while it was my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to resign and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President during the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a posted letter. on Sunday in your X account.
Nearly 30 minutes after breaking the news that he was ending his campaign, Biden threw his support behind Harris.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year,” he said in another post on X. “Democrats – it’s time to come together and defeat Trump.”
There were early signs that the party was rallying around Harris, who won support from the Congressional Black Caucus and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before she even commented on Biden’s decision to drop out. of the dispute. But notably, former President Barack Obama resisted, pledging support for the party’s eventual nominee.
“We are honored to join the President in supporting Vice President Harris and will do everything we can to support her,” former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.
But Obama, who had privately shared doubts about Biden’s re-election chances, stopped short of supporting Harris, despite praising Biden for his decision to drop out of the race.
“I have extraordinary confidence that our party’s leaders will be able to create a process from which a remarkable candidate emerges,” he said in a statement.
Biden’s decision came as he was isolating at his Delaware beach house after being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, meeting with a shrinking circle of close confidants and family about his political future. Biden said he would address the nation later this week to provide “details” about his decision.
Harris learned of Biden’s plans on Sunday morning, and senior campaign and White House officials were notified just minutes before the letter was sent, according to people familiar with the matter who commented on the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Biden had been reflecting on his future in recent days and the decision was made closely.
Now Democrats must urgently try to bring coherence to the nomination process in a matter of weeks and convince voters, in a surprisingly short space of time, that their candidate can get the job done and beat Trump. And, in turn, Trump must shift his focus to a new opponent, after years of focusing his attention on Biden.
The decision marks a swift and surprising end to Biden’s 52 years in electoral politics, as donors, legislators and even advisors they expressed to him their doubts that he could convince voters that he could plausibly hold the position for another four years.
Biden won the vast majority of delegates It is all naming contests except one, which would have made his appointment a formality. Now that he has dropped out, these delegates will be free to support another candidate.
Harris, 59, appeared to be the natural successor, in large part because she is the only candidate who can directly tap Biden’s campaign war chest under federal campaign finance rules.
Biden’s campaign has formally changed its name to Harris for president, reflecting that she is inheriting his political operation — a sign of the advantage he has in the race for the Democratic nomination. Democratic groups, including the Democratic National Committee, also filed documents changing the names of their joint fundraising committees to reflect Harris’ candidacy.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place August 19-22 in Chicago, but the party announced it would hold a virtual call formally nominate Biden before the in-person process begins.
It remained to be seen whether other candidates would challenge Harris for the nomination. Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement that the party would “undertake a transparent and orderly process” to select “a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.”
Harris was spending Sunday afternoon calling Democratic elected officials and delegates as she worked to secure the nomination.
Trump reacted to the news in a post on his Truth Social website, in which he said that Biden “was not fit to run for president and is certainly not fit to serve.”
“We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will repair the damage he caused very quickly,” he added. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
While Trump and his team have made clear their preference to face Biden, his campaign has nevertheless intensified its attacks on Harris as pressure for Biden to resign intensified.
Democratic officials, including many who were behind the effort to oust Biden from the race, quickly released statements praising Biden’s decision.
“Of course, his decision was not an easy one, but he once again put his country, his party and our future first,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Joe, today shows that you are a true patriot and a great American.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York praised Biden as “one of the most talented and important leaders in American history.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Biden should resign immediately if he is not fit enough to run for office. In a statement, Johnson said: “November 5th can’t come soon enough.”
In addition to his planned address to the country, Biden still plans to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, according to a person familiar with the president’s schedule who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The exact timing of the meeting has not yet been determined as Biden continues to recover from COVID. Netanyahu is expected to deliver a speech to Congress on Wednesday and also meet with Vice President Kamala Harris while in Washington.
In 2020, Biden presented himself as a transitional figure who wanted to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders. But after securing the job he spent decades fighting to get, he was reluctant to part with it.
Biden was once asked if any other Democrat could beat Trump.
“Probably 50 of them,” Biden responded. “No, I’m not the only one who can defeat you, but I will defeat you.”
Biden is already the country’s oldest president and has repeatedly insisted he was ready for the challenge of another campaign and another term, telling voters that all they needed was to “watch me.”
And notice, they did. His poor debate performance it provoked a cascade of anxiety from Democrats and donors, who said publicly what some had said privately for months, that they thought he wouldn’t be up to the job for another four years.
Concerns about Biden’s age have dogged him since he announced he was running for re-electionalthough Trump is only three years younger at 78. Most Americans see the president as too old for a second termaccording to an August 2023 survey by Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center. A majority also I doubt your mental capacity being president, although that is also a weakness of Trump.
Biden often commented that he wasn’t as young as he used to be, didn’t walk as easily or talk as well, but that he had wisdom and decades of experience, which were worth a lot.
“I give you my word as Biden. I wouldn’t be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I can do this job,” he told supporters at a rally in North Carolina the day after the debate. “Because, frankly, the risks are too high.”
But voters have also had other problems with him – he has been deeply unpopular as a leader, even as his administration has led the nation through recovery from a global pandemic, presided over a booming economy and passed important pieces of bipartisan legislation that will impact the nation for years to come. Most Americans disapproves of the way he is handling his joband has faced persistently low approval ratings on key issues, including the economy and immigration.
Biden’s motivation for running was deeply tied to Trump’s. He retired from public service after eight years serving as Obama’s vice president and the death of his son Beau, but decided to run following Trump’s comments following a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when white supremacists invaded the city to protest the removal of its Confederate memorials.
Trump said: “We had some very bad people in the group, but there were also people who were very good on both sides. On both sides.”
Biden’s wife, first lady Jill Biden, responded to the president’s announcement by reposting Biden’s letter announcing his decision and adding red heart emojis.
Granddaughter Naomi Biden Neal said on social media: “I am nothing but proud of my father.” She said he served the country “with every ounce of his soul and with unparalleled distinction” and “our world is better today in many ways thanks to him.”
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Superville reported from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
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