WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden has announced that he has dropped out of the 2024 Presidential race and will not seek re-election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee for the Democratic Party.
Biden is to address the nation later this week on this announcement.
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The move comes just weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and after weeks of high-profile Democrats urging Biden to step aside, saying he will not be able to win against former President Donald Trump.
Below is the statement posted to social media.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
The process to replace Biden this close to an election is a complicated one. Because he’s stepping aside before the DNC, his pledged delegates are free to back other candidates and Democrats would choose a nominee at the convention. That could get messy if Biden does not endorse a replacement candidate.
“If Biden were not to endorse his Vice President, then there would be a mini-campaign to recruit and win the support of a majority of the delegates,” Matt Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, told Time Magazine.
During that mini-campaign, a candidate would need to secure a majority of delegates to get the nomination.
More political experts believe that Biden would endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place.
The calls to have Biden step aside came after the presidential debate held here in Atlanta in June at the CNN studio on Techwood Drive.
By the end of the 90-minute showdown, the Democratic president’s allies — party strategists and rank-and-file voters alike — descended into all-out panic following a debate performance punctuated by repeated stumbles, uncomfortable pauses, and a quiet speaking style that was often difficult to understand.
Biden said he wasn’t feeling well, and the debate followed several trips to several different countries in the days leading up to the debate.
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In the days since, the calls for him to consider stepping aside have grown stronger and stronger, coming from heavy hitters in the Democratic Party like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and even his former boss, former President Barack Obama.
As of Thursday, the latest Associated Press/NORC poll showed that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president.
The poll also found that younger Democrats are especially likely to want to see him bow out – and to say they’re dissatisfied with him. Three-quarters of Democrats under the age of 45 want Biden to drop out, compared to about 6 in 10 of those who are older.
Biden has been in the political arena for more than 50 years. At just age 29, Biden became one of the youngest Americans ever elected to the United States Senator.
As Senator, Biden “played a leading role in addressing some of our nation’s most important domestic and international challenges, including writing the Violence Against Women Act. As Vice President, he worked alongside President Obama to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, oversee the then-largest economic recovery plan in history, and strengthen American leadership on the world stage,” the White House website said.
He stayed in the Senate until becoming Vice President under Obama, and ultimate President in 2020.
After officially taking office in 2021, Biden worked to “get America vaccinated and jumpstart an economic recovery that created more jobs than any other President has created in four years.”
“His Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is rebuilding our roads and bridges, removing lead pipes, and expanding high-speed internet access. His Inflation Reduction Act is the largest investment in climate action in history. And his CHIPS and Science Act is making cutting-edge technology here in America with American workers,” the White House said.
Biden will now remain in office until the next President takes the oath on Jan. 20, 2025.
My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
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