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President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about his fitness for office just four months before the election.
The decision comes after escalating pressure from Biden’s Democratic allies to step aside following the June 27 debate, in which the 81-year-old president trailed off, often gave nonsensical answers and failed to call out the former president’s many falsehoods.
Biden plans to serve out the remainder of his term in office, which ends at noon ET on Jan. 20, 2025.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. 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 in a letter posted to his X account.
Nearly 30 minutes later, Biden throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s instant favorite for the nomination at its August convention in Chicago.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” he said in another post on X. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”
Biden’s decision came as he has been isolating at his Delaware beach house after being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, huddling with a shrinking circle of close confidants and family members about his political future. Biden said he would address the nation later this week to provide “detail” about his decision.
The White House confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
The announcement is the latest jolt to a campaign for the White House that both political parties see as the most consequential election in generations, coming just days after the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
A party’s presumptive presidential nominee has never stepped 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 another term.
Now, Democrats have to urgently try to bring coherence to the nominating process in a matter of weeks and persuade voters in a stunningly short amount of time that their nominee can handle the job and beat Trump. And for his part, Trump must shift his focus to a new opponent after years of training his attention on Biden.
The decision marks a swift and stunning end to Biden’s 52 years in electoral politics, as donors, lawmakers and even aides expressed to him their doubts that he could convince voters that he could plausibly handle the job for another four years.
Biden won the vast majority of delegates and every nominating contest but one, which would have made his nomination a formality. Now that he has dropped out, those delegates will be free to support another candidate.
Harris, 59, appeared to be the natural successor, in large part because she is the only candidate who can directly tap into the Biden campaign’s war chest, according to federal campaign finance rules.
Biden’s backing helps clear the way for Harris, but a smooth transition is by no means assured.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, but the party had announced that it would hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin.
It remained to be seen whether other candidates woul challenge Harris for the nomination or how party may need to adjust its rules again to smooth Harris’ nomination on the floor.
In 2020, Biden pitched himself as a transitional figure who wanted to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders. But once he secured the job he spent decades struggling to attain, he was reluctant to part with it.
Biden was once asked whether any other Democrats could beat Trump.
“Probably 50 of them,” Biden replied. “No, I’m not the only one who can defeat him, but I will defeat him.”
Biden is already the country’s oldest president and had insisted repeatedly that he was up for the challenge of another campaign and another term, telling voters all they had to was “watch me.”
And watch him they did. His poor debate performance prompted a cascade of anxiety from Democrats and donors who said publicly what some had said privately for months, that they did not think he was up to the job for four more years.
Concerns over Biden’s age have dogged him since he announced he was running for reelection, though Trump is just three years younger at 78. Most Americans view the president as too old for a second term, according to an August 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A majority also doubt his mental capability to be president, though that is also a weakness for Trump.
Biden often remarked that he was not as young as he used to be, doesn’t walk as easily or speak as smoothly, but that he had wisdom and decades of experience, which were worth a whole lot.
“I give you my word as a Biden. I would not be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul I can do this job,” he told supporters at a rally in North Carolina a day after the debate. “Because, quite frankly, the stakes are too high.”
But voters had other problems with him, too — he has been deeply unpopular as a leader even as his administration steered the nation through recovery from a global pandemic, presided over a booming economy and passed major pieces of bipartisan legislation that will impact the nation for years to come. A majority of Americans disapprove of the way he’s handling his job, and he’s faced persistently low approval ratings on key issues including the economy and immigration.
Biden’s age surfaced as a major factor during an investigation of his handling of classified documents. Special counsel Robert Hur said in February that the president came across in interviews with investigators as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The president’s allies seized on the statement as gratuitous and criticized Hur for including it in his report, and Biden himself angrily pushed back on descriptions of how he spoke about his late son.
Biden’s motivation for running was deeply intertwined with Trump. He had retired from public service following eight years serving as vice president under Barack Obama and the death of his son Beau but decided to run after Trump’s comments following a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when white supremacists descended on the city to protest the removal of its Confederate memorials.
Trump said: “You had some very bad people in the group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. On both sides.”
That a sitting president didn’t unequivocally condemn racism and white supremacy deeply offended Biden. Then, Biden won the 2020 election and Trump refused to concede and stood by for hours while his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, beating and bloodying law enforcement in a failed attempt to overturn the certification of Biden’s win.
“If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running,” Biden once said during at a campaign event.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden’s decision to leave the race, but he and his team had made their preference for facing Biden clear.
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It’s disappointing that Joe Biden is only now stepping down after he and his staff, along with much of the media, have been LYING to the public for over three years about his cognitive decline, mental state, health, and ability to lead the country. The American people deserve transparency and honesty, especially when it comes to the health and capabilities of their president.
More importantly, if Biden is unfit to run for president, how is he fit to remain in office? The ongoing mismanagement and lack of decisive leadership have caused significant harm. The well-being and future (at least what’s left) of the country should not be compromised by someone unable to fulfill the responsibilities of the presidency effectively.
Welp, my portfolio is looking pretty good. Wonder how those Trump tariffs will affect it….
He is not unfit until George Clooney says so. IBJ is even now getting their marching orders from party headquarters and will run a campaign praising 50 years of “public service!”, to distract from the potato in office for another 6 months.
Nothing says he is unfit. He is not rerunning, not quiting.
Jolf, how did your portfolio look in 2019? Are you seriously trying to say the potato had an effect on the stock market? He couldn’t tell you what the NYSE stands for unless it was on the teleprompter, and even then it would be 50/50
Well said.
I think the functioning of government under Biden has gone a fair amount smoother than it did under Trump. Remember when there was a new Cabinet Secretary just about every month because Trump was impulsively firing and hiring and they finally gave up on letting Congress having a say and they just made everyone an “acting” position?
I mean, Joe Biden passed the infrastructure bill that Donald Trump claimed would be one of his best reasons to vote for him. Trump was never able to get off Twitter or stop watching TV long enough to focus on such an effort, nor an effective judge of people to find someone able to get such a legislative accomplishment across the line. Them’s the facts.
And when there was a crisis like COVID? Yeah, how’d that work out? It turned into blame everyone but us, and you’re all on your own.
The singular accomplishment of the Trump term was packing the courts, including the Supreme Court, with Federalist Society loons intent on rolling back decades of legislation and court cases. Other than blowing up the deficit again so Republicans could claim it’s all the Democrats fault again, that is.
Meanwhile Trump claims he’s never heard of Project 2025, sure … next he will claim he never said he’s entitled to a third term … listen to a Trump speech and read the transcript and tell me he’s mentally there enough for a four year term either …
LOL. The AP who are a very proactive part of the lying and coverup, managing to work a Charlottesville quote into the article about the potato getting outed. “Journalism”
Yep Chuck, they always have to throw that in. Ridiculous!
Kamala Harris will run circles around Don the Con. Trump is toast.
Kamala will be unburdened by what was!
Laughable comment. You’d vote for a blue toilet seat.
David M. 😆
The amount of people that vote for blue toilets 🚽 are endless it seems.
Kamala is a clown 🤡
Especially since she’s now running against a very old man that can’t stay awake in public and constantly mixes up peoples names.
Too bad it is too late for the Republicans to make a generational change also ! There is no chance TRUMP will do the right thing for the country and also drop out . Most of us did not want either of them to run for re-election !
Get ready for Kamala’s speech:
“I’m next up for President because I’m next to have a second chance at being the next president after the next guy because I’m next.”
Not a Trump Fan. BUT considering the REALITY of the situation, one of the current options will be POTUS. Given that I will pull Trumps lever.
Side note: Although IBJ and the rest of the “journalists” are hard at work burying the story, the happiest person in Indiana today is Joe Hogsett
The Democrats should recruit Senator Mark Kelly for either position on the Presidential Ballot !!!!
I would have voted for Biden over Trump even with a full Alzheimer’s diagnosis, but this is for the best. Trump is an unhinged narcissist with a lot of similarities to 1930’s Hitler. I know this upsets MAGA voters to hear, but you guys should really brush up on history.
There West Coast Wes goes again… throwing around metaphors to Hitler.
Many politicians can be described that way but it only has that fun ring when it’s on MSDNC every night by Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow the race baiting twins.
There’s JCB again with another ignorant take. I personally haven’t seen any parallels between presidential candidates in my lifetime and Hitler until Trump, but believe what you want. Luckily your generation is losing power finally.
Wes slides back in to cheer for continued economy destruction via new entitlements to ensure kids never get out of their parents’ basement. Yay for the Dem nanny state…
I would have voted for a corpse over Trump.
The kids will never get out of their basements here in Indiana since we’ve decided we are too cheap to give them a proper education and Republicans have spent two decades destroying the educational system here in Indiana, K through college.
But go on thinking it’s the fault of the Democrats. All three of them here in Indiana.
Matter of time before the dems broom Kamala, worse approval ratings than Biden. Prepare for the dem convention to install Newsom as heir apparent
We will vote for whoever they nominate this election. This is about beating Trump, and crushing the soul of the MAGA movement. I doubt they’ll pick Newsome because he hasn’t proven that he has the ability to communicate with Midwestern swing voters, but we’ll see. I’m fairly confident Kamala can beat Trump too.
I think you’ve been drinking your bath water Wes
Wes you are such a comedian. You really get off some good one-liners
You overlook the fact that a Black Man won the popular vote and two elections. A women won the popular vote in 2016 over Trump. This looks like it’s going to be a great race.
All of the comments were entertaining, but the way the AP reported this news is another example of biased media coverage and their obsession with promoting the left at all costs. It is comical that they masquerade as “journalists”
+1
I happen to know that Main Stream Media has a definite bias to facts. It’s terrible.
@Chuck W. Yeah, I was kinda saying that. Were you calling Trump a potato? First time I’ve agreed with you….
He means the dementia potato.
JCB…. so Trump? forgets his kids names, thinks his daughter is his wife, keeps thinking it is 2014, the list keeps going on.
You watch the RNC speech? felt like I was visiting a hospice ward where someone found a step stool and talked for 90 minutes
But that’s different, Frankie. I’d like to see Trump try to go 10 minutes with Buttigieg. Would not end well for Donald.
No chance in the world Republicans agree to more than one debate. Make my words. Republicans spent all this time and effort saying Biden was too old to be president … now they’re gonna wheel out a 78 year old man with plenty of his own cognitive issues. His speech transcripts read like something run through about six languages on Google Translate.
Little wonder they’re throwing every distraction tactic in the world out there. She can’t be on the ballot! Invoke the 25th Amendment!
The comments here are so predictable. Your opinions don’t matter and neither do mine. We live in Indiana which, on November 5th, will likely be the first state called for Don the Con when the polls close. In states where one’s vote really does count, like Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin (to name a few), Biden’s stepping down will energize the democratic base in those states and the scales will tip. It has always been a horse race. The arrogance of Trump reminds me of War Admiral, the offspring of Man-O-War running in the Race of the Century against “the little guy who didn’t know he was a little guy”, Seabiscuit. War Admiral was a 1–4 favourite; Seabiscuit’s odds were 22–10. War Admiral won the toss and pole position. The rest was history because “the little guy who didn’t know he was a little guy”…..did GREAT BIG THINGS! Damn, I love a good horse race!
The whole thing has been orchestrated to fake the American people. No Democrats ran against Biden in this primary – which was a sin. Simply put, the DNC did not want the people to have a voice or a choice. Then, the Ds put Biden up in an early pre-nomination debate, just so he could fail. That way, the party operatives behind the scenes can choose who they want. The delegates will fall in line and do what they are told. What we as a nation should be discussing is how to end the primary system. At this point, it’s nothing more than a mask for the Rs and Ds to get twice as many campaign dollars (you can donate equal amounts to candidates before and then after the primaries). https://www.usa.gov/campaign-finance-laws
OMG, you know this now means we have a Presidential race where one man is so old that he can’t stay awake in public and continually mixes up names in speeches.