Biden steps down of the presidential race, endorses Harris
President Biden announced he is leaving the presidential race and endorses Vice President Kamala Harris, marking a sizable shift in the 2024 election season.President Biden announced on Sunday that he is stepping aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's new nominee. This introduces a historic shift in the 2024 presidential race, which saw the formal nomination of former President Trump as the Republican nominee and awaits the Democratic National Convention less than a month away.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," Biden wrote in a letter posted on his X account. "And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, 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." The letter itself did not include any particular endorsements. However, shortly after, Biden expressed his "full support" for Vice President Harris in a separate tweet, promising to provide more details in an address to the nation later this week. A few minutes later, Harris, in her response, thanked Biden for his leadership and vowed to "earn and win" the nomination while working to unite both the Democratic Party and the nation. On Sunday, she reached out to Democratic leaders and elected officials to secure the party's presidential nomination, according to sources familiar with the situation. While that is still in development, Harris has earned the support of former Presidents Obama and Clinton. Biden, recovering from COVID-19 in Rehoboth, Delaware, has faced increasing pressure to withdraw from the race following a shaky debate performance against former President Trump on June 27. The growing concerns about Biden's age and capacity to serve another term were heightened after the debate, despite a subsequent media blitz and campaign events intended to mitigate these worries. Congressional Democrats, including Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, had spent weeks pressuring President Biden not to seek re-election, yet despite that pressure, Biden seemed defiant. Ultimately, Biden and his close circle of advisers, including family and long-term political associates, whom he met with during the past week, decided his future in the race. This inner circle had been instrumental in supporting his 2020 White House run. Biden's political career spans over three decades in the Senate, a vice presidency under former President Obama, and a historic 2020 presidential win against Trump. His personal life has been marked by tragedy and resilience, from the loss of his first wife and daughter in a car accident to his enduring partnership with First Lady Jill Biden. In 2020, Biden selected Kamala Harris, the first woman and first Black and South Asian vice president, as his running mate. Harris, a former U.S. senator from California and state attorney general, now steps into the spotlight as the likely Democratic Party's nominee for the 2024 presidential race. |