Biden withdraws from the 2024 contest

Biden withdraws from the 2024 contest after a contentious debate stoked ageism issues. 

VP Harris gives his approval.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Following a terrible debate with Donald Trump that cast doubt on the incumbent's suitability for office, President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential contest on Sunday. Less than four months before the election, the unexpected news was made, upending a campaign that both major parties considered to be the most important in recent memory.

To finish his term in office, the president promptly backed Vice President Kamala Harris to challenge Trump and urged his party to rally behind her. As a result, she became the party's instant favorite to win the nomination at its August convention in Chicago.

A week after Trump was the target of an attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania, the announcement is the most recent shock to the turbulent presidential campaign.

Never has a party's presumed presidential nominee dropped out of the race thus close to the outcome. After only one state's primary, President Lyndon Johnson, overwhelmed by the Vietnam War, declared in March 1968 that he would not run for office again. Following more than 14 million Democratic votes cast in favor of him throughout the primaries, Biden made his decision in July.

In a statement, Harris declared her intention to "earn and win" her party's candidacy while applauding Biden for his "selfless and patriotic act."
"I will exert every effort to bring the Democratic Party and our country together in opposition to Donald Trump and his divisive Project 2025 agenda," she declared.

Biden's decision to withdraw came in response to mounting pressure from his Democratic allies to do so after the June 27 debate, during which the 81-year-old president faltered, frequently answered incoherently, and neglected to address the numerous lies made by the former president.

"Serving as your President has been the greatest honor of my life. Although I have always intended to run for reelection, I feel that it would be better for my party and the nation if I stepped down and concentrated only on carrying out my presidential duties for the balance of my term, Biden wrote in a letter that was uploaded to his X account on Sunday.

After announcing that he was ending his candidacy, Biden backed Harris almost thirty minutes later.
In another post on X, he stated, "Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year." "Democrats, let's band together to defeat Trump."

In the upcoming days, Harris will have a daunting political to-do list: choosing a running partner, getting the support of party delegates, and turning around a large political operation designed to reelect Biden to support her candidacy. Harris would be the first woman and person of South Asian heritage to hold the office of president if she were elected.

Before Harris made any comments regarding Biden's decision to withdraw from the race, she received the endorsements of the Congressional Black Caucus, former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. These signals suggested that the party was beginning to come together around Harris. Notably, though, is that former president Barack Obama waited and supported the party's eventual choice.

The Clintons released a statement saying, "We are honored to join the President in endorsing Vice President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her." Though he applauded Biden for his decision to withdraw from the campaign, Obama refrained from publicly endorsing Harris considering his private reservations about Biden's chances of winning reelection.

He declared in a statement, "I have extraordinary confidence that our party's leaders will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."

Following his COVID-19 diagnosis last week, Biden has been withdrawing to his Delaware beach house and haggling over his political future with a dwindling group of close friends and family members. This decision was made during this period. Later this week, Biden promised to address the nation and give "detail" on his choice.

According to persons familiar with the situation who provided comments on the private discussions on condition of anonymity, Harris learned of Biden's plans on Sunday morning and senior campaign and White House aides were informed just minutes before the letter was sent out. For the past few days, Biden had been considering his future, and he had made a carefully considered decision.

Democrats now have an extremely narrow window of time to persuade voters that their nominee can handle the job and defeat Trump, and they must work quickly to bring consistency to the nomination process in a few weeks. And after spending years homing in on Biden, Trump must turn his attention to a new rival.

Biden's 52 years in electoral politics came to an abrupt and abrupt end with this decision, as politicians, funders, and even close advisors communicated to him their reservations about his ability to persuade voters that he could legitimately serve another four years in office.

With all but one of the nominating contests won by Biden, he easily gained the most delegates, making his nomination a formality. Those delegates can now freely support another candidate as he has withdrawn.

The fact that Harris,59, is the only contender who has direct access to the Biden campaign's war chest because of federal campaign finance regulations made her seem like the obvious choice to succeed Biden.

In an indication of her advantage in the contest for the Democratic nomination, Biden's campaign officially renamed itself as Harris for President, reflecting the fact that she is taking over his political organization. To reflect Harris' candidacy, Democratic organizations—including the Democratic National Committee—also submitted paperwork renaming their joint fundraising committees.

The Democratic National Convention is set to take place in Chicago from August 19–22, however, before the in-person events, the party has declared that it would formally nominate Biden by a virtual roll call.

It was unclear if other contenders would put up a fight with Harris for the nomination. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who competed against Biden and Harris for the Democratic candidacy in 2020, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, who had been mentioned as a potential Biden replacement last year, backed her on Sunday.

Jaime Harrison, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, declared in a statement that the party will choose "a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November" by "undertaking a transparent and orderly process."

Jonathan Kott, a longtime consultant to West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who quit the Democratic Party earlier this year to become an independent, said that Manchin is thinking about re-registering as a Democrat to run for the nomination against the vice president.

As she attempted to secure the nomination, Harris was phoning Democratic delegates and elected officials on Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday, Harris was awarded her first delegates in the Democratic presidential primary. Following Biden's withdrawal from the campaign, the Tennessee Democratic Party announced on X that its delegation decided to support Harris at a meeting on Sunday.

Governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona—all of whom are from swing states and have been floated as potential running mates for Harris—also endorsed Harris on Sunday night.

In response, Trump said on his Truth Social page that Biden “was not fit to run for President and is certainly not fit to serve” in response to the news.
"His presidency will cause us great suffering, but we will quickly undo the harm he has caused," he continued. "RESTORE AMERICA'S GROWTH!"

Even though Trump and his staff had made it apparent that they preferred to go on Biden, as pressure mounted on Biden to resign, Trump's campaign upped its attacks on Harris. Prominent Democratic figures, many of whom spearheaded the campaign to remove Biden from the race, swiftly issued remarks endorsing Biden's choice.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, stated, "His decision was not easy, of course, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first." "Today demonstrates that you are a great American and a true patriot, Joe."
Biden was hailed as "one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history" by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Speaker of the Republican-controlled House Mike Johnson stated that Biden needed to step down right away if he was unfit to serve as president. Johnson remarked in a statement that "November 5 cannot arrive soon enough."

According to a person familiar with the president's itinerary who was not authorized to publicly comment, Biden still plans to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week in addition to his scheduled speech to the nation.

Given that Biden is still recuperating from COVID, the precise time of the meeting is still up in the air. In addition to meeting with Harris while in Washington, Netanyahu is set to address Congress on Wednesday.

In 2020, Biden presented himself as a figure of transition who aimed to serve as a link to a new wave of leaders. But he was reluctant to give up the position he had worked so hard for decades to get.

Someone asked Biden once if he thought any other Democrats could defeat Trump.
"It's probably fifty of them," Biden answered. "No, there are others who can defeat him as well, but I will prevail over him."

As the nation's oldest president, Biden has previously stated that he was ready for another term and another campaign, saying Americans all they needed to do was "watch me."
And they did observe him. His dismal debate performance set off a chain reaction of fear among Democrats and funders, who openly expressed what some had been saying in secret for months: they did not believe he was qualified to serve as president for another four years.

Since declaring his candidacy for reelection, Biden has been plagued by age concerns, although Trump is only three years younger at 78. In August 2023, The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a poll that found that most Americans believed the president was too old to serve a second term. Though it is certainly a vulnerability for Trump, the majority also question his mental fitness to serve as president. Biden frequently said that although he wasn't as young as he once was and didn't walk or speak as naturally, his wisdom and decades of experience were still very valuable.

In my capacity as a Biden, I swear. At a rally in North Carolina the day after the debate, he declared to supporters, "I would not be running again if I did not believe with all my heart and soul, I can do this job." "Because the stakes are simply too high."

Voters, however, had other issues with him as well. Despite leading the country through its recovery from a pandemic, overseeing a thriving economy, and passing significant bipartisan legislation that will have long-term effects, he has been incredibly unpopular as a leader. Most Americans don't think well of the way he's doing his job, and he consistently has low approval ratings on important topics like immigration and the economy.

Biden's decision to run for office was heavily influenced by Trump. After serving as Obama's vice president for eight years and losing his son Beau to death, he retired from public life. However, Trump's remarks at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017—as white nationalists flocked to the city to protest the removal of Confederate memorials—prompted him to run for office.

"You had some very bad people in the group, but on both sides, there were also very fine people," stated Trump. on both sides.
First Lady Jill Biden, husband of Joe Biden, reshared his letter of announcement following the president's speech, embellishing it with red heart emojis.

On social media, granddaughter Naomi Biden Neal posted, "I'm nothing but proud of my Pop." "Our world is better today in so many ways thanks to him," she said, adding that he has served the country "with every bit of his soul and with unmatched distinction."