Biden has withdrawn from the 2024 race following a disastrous debate that caused anger over age-related concerns. Harris gets his nod from VP Harris gets the approval
Biden will serve the remaining time in office, which will expire around noon ET on January. 20, 2025.
WASHINGTON (AP) — the president Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, end of his run to run for reelection following a disastrous conversation against Donald Trump that raised doubts about his suitability for the presidency. The shocking announcement, made just four months prior to the election, immediately threw a wrench into the campaign which both political parties regard as one of the most significant over the course of time.
The president, intent to finish the rest of his term was quick to endorse Vice-President Kamala Harris to take on Trump and called on his political party to come together around her, which made her the party’s immediate most popular candidate for the nomination at its convention in August held in Chicago.
It’s the most recent blow to a turbulent campaign for President Trump’s White House, coming a week after the attempted assassination of Trump at the Pennsylvania rally.
The presumptive nominee for president of the Republican Party has not stepped away from the race this close to the presidential election. The president Lyndon Johnson, besieged by the Vietnam War, announced in March 1968 that he would not run for another term following one state’s primary. Biden’s decision in July follows over 14 million Democrats have voted in support of Biden in the primary.
Harris via a release has praised Biden’s “selfless and patriotic act” and declared that she would “earn and win” her nominating party’s nomination.
“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” she said.
Biden’s decision to resign came amid increasing the pressure of his Democratic supporters to resign after the debate on June 27 during which the 81-year-old president sounded off and often offered illogical answers and did not call out his predecessor’s many lies.
“It is the most significant privilege in my lifetime to be the President of your country. Although it was my goal to run for an election, I believe it’s in the best interests of my political party and for the nation for me to step down and concentrate on my responsibilities as President through the remainder of my term.” Biden wrote in a letter that was posted on Sunday on the X account.
Within 30 minutes of having made the announcement that he would be putting aside in his presidential campaign Biden offered his backing in the direction of Harris.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” said the politician in a different blog post on X. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”
Harris has a daunting task over the next few days including securing the support of delegate to win the nomination for her party, deciding on the right running mate and pivoting a huge campaign that was designed to win back Biden to increase her chances of winning instead. Harris If she is elected, will become the very first female president president and the first person with South Asian descent to be president.
Early signs suggested of the political party beginning towards a united front around Harris who received an endorsement from Congressional Black Caucus and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even before she was able to comment on Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race. However, the former president Barack Obama held off, promising support for the eventual candidate of the party.
“We are honored to join the President in endorsing Vice President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her,” the Clintons stated in an announcement.
However, Obama was the only one who expressed doubts about Biden’s reelection prospects, stayed clear of supporting Harris while he also was praising Biden on his decision to withdraw from the race.
“I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” the president said in a statement.
Biden’s decision came at a time when Biden has been confined to his Delaware beach home since getting diagnosed with COVID-19 just last week. He has been in a solitary circle of close friends and family members over his future as a politician. Biden announced that he will speak to the nation later in the week to give “detail” about his decision.
Harris discovered Biden’s plans early on Sunday morning, and the top staff of the campaign as well as White House staff were notified shortly before the announcement was made according to sources familiar with the situation who have commented on the private discussions under the conditions of confidentiality. Biden was contemplating his future over the last few days, and the decision was tightly held.
Today, Democrats have to urgently strive to improve the process of nominating a candidate within a matter of weeks and convince voters within an astonishingly short period in time to prove that the candidate is able to handle the task and beat Trump. For his part, Trump must shift his attention to a different opponent after years of focusing his focus to Biden.
This decision is a quick and shocking ending to Biden’s 52-year career in the political arena, as donors as well as lawmakers, aides and even a few aides told him they had concerns about his ability to persuade voters that he would manage the job in an additional four years.
Biden was the winner of the majority of delegate and all nominating contests except one that would have rendered his nomination to be a formality. After he walked out, the participants will have the option to vote for the other candidate.
Harris, 59, seemed to be the ideal successor due to the fact that Harris has the distinction of being the only one to directly access Biden’s war chest. Biden campaign’s war funds, as per federal campaign finance regulations.
Biden’s campaign officially altered its title in the name of Harris as a presidential candidate, indicating that Harris is inheriting his political operations as an indication of the advantages she holds in the race to win the Democratic nomination. Democratic groups, like those of the Democratic National Committee, also have filed a change of name of their committees for fundraising to represent Harris’s candidacy.
Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place August. 19-22, in Chicago However, the party has announced that it will hold the convention as a virtual vote to officially announce the nomination of Biden prior to in-person events beginning.
It remains to be seen which other candidates could challenge Harris to the nomination. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had been considered as an alternative to Biden this year and Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg who was a candidate against Biden and Harris to run for winning the Democratic election in 2020 both threw their backing behind Newsom on Sunday.
The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Jaime Harrison, said in an announcement that the party will “undertake a transparent and orderly process” to choose “a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.”
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin Joe Manchin, who resigned from his position in the Democratic Party earlier this year to be an independent, may re-register as an Democrat to run to be the nominee against vice president According to Jonathan Kott, a longtime advisor to Manchin.
Harris was on Sunday afternoon contacting Democratic representatives and delegate in her efforts to tie her nomination.
Harris has received her first delegate for Harris’s Democratic Presidential nomination Sunday. It was reported by the Tennessee Democratic Party posted on X that their delegation voted during an event on Sunday to support Harris following Biden’s exit from the race.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly — each hailing from the swing state, and also suggested as possible running mates for Harris Also, they have endorsed Harris on Sunday evening.
Trump has reacted to the news with an update to the Truth Social site, in which he stated that Biden “was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve.”
“We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly,” he said. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Although Trump along with his team stated their preference to confront Biden explicit but his campaign intensified its attacks against Harris as the pressure on Biden to resign grew.
Democratic representatives, which includes those who were part of the effort to remove Biden out of the race immediately issued statements that praised Biden’s decision.
“His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Joe, today shows you are a true patriot and great American.”
House Democratic chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York is awed by Biden for being “one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that Biden should resign immediately in the event that he’s not fit enough to stand for election. In an official statement, Johnson said, “November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”
Additionally to the scheduled address to the nation, Biden still intends to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week According to a person who is familiar with the president’s schedule who did not have permission to speak in public.
The exact date and time for the meeting is not fixed since Biden is still recovering from COVID. Netanyahu is scheduled for Wednesday to address Congress and is likely to have a meeting with Harris when he is in Washington.
The year 2020 was the time Biden presented himself as an individual who was a transitional figure and was looking to bridge the gap to an upcoming Generation of leadership. However, once he had secured the job he’d spent decades fighting for and was hesitant to give it up.
Biden has been asked if another Democrats could defeat Trump.
“Probably 50 of them,” Biden said. “No, I’m not the only one who can defeat him, but I will defeat him.”
Biden is the nation’s longest-running president. He has also repeatedly stated that Biden was ready for an additional term and a new campaign in which he told voters all they needed to do did was “watch me.”
And they did. His poor performance at the debate resulted in a flood of anxiousness by Democrats and donors who proclaimed in public what many had been saying privately for months, namely that they didn’t think he could do the job for another four years.
Biden’s age has plagued him since he declared that he would be running for the presidency for a second time however Trump is three years younger, at 78. The majority of Americans consider the president to be too old to be eligible for an additional term in accordance with an August 2023 poll conducted by The Associated Press -NORC Center of Public Affairs Research. The majority of Americans doubt that he is mentally fit to succeed as president, which is another weakness of Trump.
Biden often said that he wasn’t so young as he once be or walk as smoothly or speak as fluidly however, he was blessed with years of wisdom and knowledge, which was valuable.
“I swear by you as Biden. Biden. I would never run for a second time if I did not believe that with my whole heart that I am capable of doing this task,” he told supporters at the rally held in North Carolina a day after the debate. “Because, quite frankly, the stakes are too high.”
However, voters have had other issues with him tooHe has been utterly unpopular in his leadership despite his administration’s efforts to guide the country through the aftermath of an epidemic that swept the globe and steered a flourishing economy, and enacted significant pieces of bipartisan legislation which will impact the country for the foreseeable future. The large majority Americans are dissatisfied with the manner in which he’s conducting his duties and has faced consistently low approval ratings on important issues like immigration and the economy.
Biden’s motives for running were strongly connected to Trump. He had resigned from public service after eight years as the vice-president in the Obama administration Obama and the passing of son Beau however, he chose to enter the race after Trump’s comments in response to an “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 when white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the removal of Confederate memorials.
Trump declared: “You had some very poor people in the group But there were also people who were excellent people from both sides. Both sides.”
Biden’s wife, the first Mrs. Jill Biden, responded to the president’s announcement, reposting Biden’s letter in which he announced his decision and introducing red heart Emojis.
Granddaughter Naomi Biden Neal said on social mediathat “I’m nothing but proud of my Pop.” She claimed that he been a hero to the nation “with every bit of his soul and with unmatched distinction” and “our world is better today in so many ways thanks to him.”
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Superville is a report from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
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