Biden drops out of 2024 presidential election, endorses Kamala Harris as Democratic nominee

President

Joe
Biden
on
Sunday

dropped
out
of
the

2024
presidential
race
and
endorsed
Vice
President

Kamala
Harris
as
the
Democratic
Party’s
nominee,
bowing
to
weeks
of
growing
pressure
by
his
own
party
members
to
quit
his
re-election
bid
against
former
President

Donald
Trump.

“It
has
been
the
greatest
honor
of
my
life
to
serve
as
your
President,”
Biden
wrote
in
a
post
on
the
social
media
site
X.

“And
while
it
has
been
my
intention
to
seek
reelection,
I
believe
it
is
in
the
best
interest
of
my
party
and
the
country
for
me
to
stand
down
and
to
focus
solely
on
fulfilling
my
duties
as
President
for
the
remainder
of
my
term,”
Biden
wrote.

“I
will
speak
to
the
Nation
later
this
week
in
more
detail
about
my
decision,”
wrote
Biden,
whose
bombshell
decision
came
after
a
sharp
spike
in
recent
days
in
the
number
of
congressional
Democrats
publicly
calling
for
him
to
step
aside
for
another
nominee.

Biden
in
a
subsequent
tweet
wrote
that
his
“very
first
decision
as
the
party
nominee
in
2020
was
to
pick
Kamala
Harris
as
my
Vice
President.”

“And
it’s
been
the
best
decision
I’ve
made.
Today
I
want
to
offer
my
full
support
and
endorsement
for
Kamala
to
be
the
nominee
of
our
party
this
year.
Democrats
—
it’s
time
to
come
together
and
beat
Trump,”
Biden
wrote.

“Let’s
do
this.”

Harris
in
a
statement
said,
“I
am
honored
to
have
the
President’s
endorsement
and
my
intention
is
to
earn
and
win
this
nomination.”

Former
President
Bill
Clinton
and
former
Secretary
of
State
Hillary
Clinton,
in
a
joint
statement
from
the
Democratic
power
couple,
said,
“We
are
honored
the
join
the
President
in
endorsing
Vice
President
Harris
and
will
do
whatever
we
can
to
support
her.”

Biden,
who
has
been
isolated
at
his
Rehoboth,
Delaware,
beach
home
after
being
diagnosed
with
Covid-19,
and
Harris
spoke
on
Sunday
before
he
announced
he
would
drop
out
of
the
election
race.

NBC
News
reported
that
Biden
at
1:45
p.m.
ET
Sunday
told
his
senior
campaign
team
that
he
had
changed
his
mind
about
remaining
in
the
contest.

On
Sunday
evening,
on
a
campaign
staff
call,
Biden
campaign
co-chair
Jen
O’Malley
Dillon
called
for
staff
to
rally
behind
their
new
candidate
and
said
that
their
jobs
would
safely
transfer
to
the
Harris
campaign,
three
sources
familiar
with
the
call
told
NBC
News.

She
also
acknowledged
the
emotional
weight
of
the
moment:
“It
is
ok
to
grieve,
it
is
ok
to
be
unsure
but
also
be
optimistic
about
our
path
forward.”

Trump
in
a
phone
interview
with
NBC
News
said
of
Biden’s
decision,
“He
should
never
have
been
there
in
the
first
place.”

“He
should
have
stayed
in
his
basement,”
said
Trump,
who
was
formally
nominated
as
the
Republican
Party’s
candidate
last
week,
days
after
narrowly
avoiding
being
killed
in
an
assassination
attempt
at
a
Pennsylvania
campaign
rally
on
July
13.

Democratic
National
Committee
Jamie
Harrison
in
a
statement
said,
“In
the
coming
days,
the
Party
will
undertake
a
transparent
and
orderly
process
to
move
forward
as
a
united
Democratic
Party
with
a
candidate
who
can
defeat
Donald
Trump
in
November.”

“This
process
will
be
governed
by
established
rules
and
procedures
of
the
Party.
Our
delegates
are
prepared
to
take
seriously
their
responsibility
in
swiftly
delivering
a
candidate
to
the
American
people,”
Harrison
said.

Biden’s
move
echoes
the
decision
by
another
Democratic
incumbent,
President
Lyndon
Johnson,
to
drop
out
of
the
1968
election
as
he
faced
turmoil
over
the
Vietnam
War,
low
approval
ratings,
and
a
surprisingly
strong
performance
by
Sen.
Eugene
McCarthy
in
the
New
Hampshire
primary.

Biden’s
campaign
for
weeks
had
insisted
he
would
remain
in
the
race,
despite
growing
concern
since
his
disastrous
debate
with
Trump
in
late
June
that
he
was
too
old
and
frail
to
compete
against
the
former
president
and
serve
a
full
second
term
if
re-elected.

As
of
Sunday,
nearly
40
Democratic
members
of
Congress
had
urged
Biden
to
drop
out.
Sen.
Joe
Manchin
of
West
Virginia,
who
recently
switched
his
political
affiliation
from
Democrat
to
independent,
earlier
Sunday
publicly
said
Biden
should
quit
the
race.

Rep.
Nancy
Pelosi,
the
California
Democrat
who
previously
served
as
speaker
of
the
House
of
Representatives,
in
a
tweet
Sunday
wrote,
“President
Joe
Biden
is
a
patriotic
American
who
has
always
put
our
country
first.”

“His
legacy
of
vision,
values
and
leadership
make
him
one
of
the
most
consequential
Presidents
in
American
history,”
Pelosi
wrote.
“With
love
and
gratitude
to
President
Biden
for
always
believing
in
the
promise
of
America
and
giving
people
the
opportunity
to
reach
their
fulfillment.
God
blessed
America
with
Joe
Biden’s
greatness
and
goodness.

Biden’s
decision
to
drop
out
blows
open
the
presidential
race
less
than
four
months
before
Election
Day.

It
also
poses
extraordinary
questions
and
challenges
for
the
Democratic
party,
which
now
must
scramble
to
assemble
a
new
presidential
ticket.

The
next
candidate
will
need
to
compete
against
the
Republican
ticket
of
Trump
and
Sen.
JD
Vance,
win
over
donors,
delegates
and
other
allies
who
were
loyal
to
the
incumbent
—
all
while
convincing
voters
of
their
own
worthiness
for
the
nation’s
highest
office.

Biden’s
campaign
did
not
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.

Biden
started
to
hemorrhage
support
from
his
own
party
and
allies
after
his
June
27
debate
against
Trump.

While
he
is
only
three
years
older
than
Trump,
Biden
looked
and
sounded
significantly
worse
on
the
debate
stage.
He
displayed
a
stiff
posture
and
sometimes
vacant-looking
gaze,
and
he
frequently
gave
answers
that
were
raspy,
unclear
and
ineffective.

In
both
substance
and
appearance,
Biden
contrasted
sharply
with
Trump,
who
looked
and
sounded
the
same
as
he
has
in
recent
years.

The
debate
instantly
set
off
a
crisis
among
Democrats.
Even
before
it
ended,
party
operatives
were
raising
doubts
about
whether
Biden
could
effectively
campaign
against
Trump.

High-profile
Democratic
donors
and
backers
openly
urged
Biden
to
drop
out,
with
some
vowing
to

withhold
campaign
contributions
in
the
meantime.

Biden
and
his
aides
spent
weeks
trying
to
stanch
the
bleeding.

In
his
first
post-debate
interview,
Biden
said
he
was
convinced
that
he
is
the
best
person
to
take
on
Trump,
adding
that
he
could
only
be
persuaded
to
step
down
“if
the
Lord
Almighty
comes
out
and
tells
me
that.”

But
as
his
resolute
posture
failed
to
quell
the

unrest
in
his
party,
Biden
suggested
he
could
be
moved
to
withdraw
in
other
ways.

In
a
BET
interview
that
aired
Wednesday
during
the
Republican
National
Convention,
Biden
said
he
might
reconsider
his
decision
to
stay
in
the
race
“if
I
had
some

medical
condition
that
emerged.”

On
the
same
day
that
interview
was
set
for
broadcast,
Biden

tested
positive
for
Covid.
He
canceled
a
scheduled
appearance
in
Las
Vegas
and
returned
his
beach
house
in
Delaware.

Biden
is
already
the
oldest
person
ever
to
serve
in
the
White
House.

He
would
have
been
86
at
the
end
of
a
second
term.
He
had

weathered
questions
about
his
physical
and
mental
fitness
even
during
his
2020
run.

Those
concerns
grew
in
the
2024
cycle,
but
they
were
aggressively
batted
down
by
Biden’s
campaign
and
White
House
aides,
and
the
president’s
relative
lack
of
press
conferences
and
interviews
may
have
shielded
scrutiny
about
his
acuity.