Joe Biden withdraws from US presidential race, endorses Kamala Harris – National
President of the United States Joe Biden announced Sunday that he was withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris to take his place against Donald Trump this November.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president,” Biden said. said in a statement released Sunday shortly before 2 p.m. ET.
“And while I intend to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country that I step aside and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” he said.
Biden said he would address the nation later this week to provide more details on his decision.
In a separate statementBiden has endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris.
“My very first decision as the party’s nominee in 2020 was to choose Kamala Harris as my vice president. And it was the best decision I ever made. Today, I want to give my full support and endorsement to Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year,” he said.
“Democrats, it’s time to unite and defeat Trump. Let’s do it.”
Biden plans to serve his sentence remainder of his termwhich ends at noon ET on January 20, 2025.
After Biden’s announcement, Democrats and Republicans quickly took to social media to express their appreciation, congratulating him on his decision.
“Joe Biden has not only been a great president and a great legislative leader, but he’s also a truly incredible human being. His decision was not an easy one, of course, but he has once again put his country, his party and our future first. Joe, today you are showing that you are a true patriot and a great American,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also thanked Biden on X, saying the president “is a great public servant who knows better than anyone what it takes to defeat Donald Trump.”
Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi Biden, praised her grandfather, saying, “I am nothing but proud today of my father, our president, Joe Biden, who served our country with every inch of his soul and with unmatched distinction,” on X.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson lashed out at X, calling for Biden’s resignation.
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“At this unprecedented moment in American history, we need to be clear about what just happened. The Democratic Party forced the Democratic nominee off the ballot, just over 100 days before the election,” he said.
“After invalidating the votes of over 14 million Americans who had chosen Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate, the self-proclaimed “Democracy Party” has proven exactly the opposite. If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president. He must resign from office immediately. November 5th cannot come soon enough.”
And Trump posted on his social media platformTruth Social, criticizing Biden’s presidential campaign.
Before Biden’s announcement to withdraw from the presidential race, he had insisted that he intended to stayexpressing confidence in his ability to defeat Trump again this year.
The president had has been self-isolating at home in Delaware after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
But as Biden was isolated, many leading Democrats had privately and publicly expressed concern about his ability to beat Trump, citing concerns about his age.
On July 18, several media outlets reported that former US President Barack Obama House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had privately expressed concerns to Democrats about Biden’s candidacy. And Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had privately warned Biden that Democrats could lose the ability to take control of the House if he did not withdraw from the race.
California Rep. Adam Schiff on July 17, called on Biden to abandon his re-election bidsaying that while the decision is Biden’s alone, he believes it is time to “pass the torch.”
Biden, 81, was elected president on November 3, 2020, along with his running mate, Harris. He took office on January 20, 2021.
The US presidential election is scheduled for November 5.
Never has a presumptive presidential candidate dropped out of the race so close to the election. The closest parallel would be President Lyndon Johnson, who, besieged by the Vietnam War, announced in March 1968 that he would not seek re-election.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, but the party had said it would hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin.
It remained to be seen whether other candidates would challenge Harris for the nomination.
- With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
