Amid talks of his failing health and mental capacity, and party leaders across the country calling for him to step down, President Joe Biden officially announced that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. The announcement came from Biden’s home in Delaware where he has been isolated since Thursday, July 18, after testing positive for COVID-19.
“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 decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“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.”
It had been rumored in the past few weeks that even former president Barack Obama has privately called for Biden to stand down and allow the democratic party’s next leader to emerge.
Talks about the 81-year-old president’s failing stamina and mental capabilities ran rampant following his debate with opponent and former president Donald Trump last month. Both Democrats and Republicans questioned Biden’s ability to effectively campaign against Trump and govern the country for another four years. Biden’s decision is also likely to raise questions about his ability to fulfill the duties of the presidency for the remainder of his term.
Seemingly, the writing had been on the wall for months regarding Biden ending his reelection campaign efforts, but even as recently as a week ago during his visit to Detroit, Biden doubled down, saying: “We gotta finish the job and I’m OK.” The comment suggested to the thousands of supporters who showed up at his Southeastern Michigan appearances that he would remain as the Democrats’ selection to run against Trump.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whose name has consistently been discussed among Democrats as a future national candidate, called Biden a “great public servant” in a post to X after Biden’s announcement.
“My job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families’ costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan,” Whitmer wrote.
The timing of Biden’s announcement comes at the end of the Republican National Convention and less than a month away from the Aug. 19, start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Biden’s decision to exit the race less than a month before his party’s convention and a few months before voters head to the polls is unprecedented in the modern political era. The last sitting president to abandon a re-election bid was Lyndon Johnson, whose expansion of the Vietnam War in the 1960s split the Democratic Party. But as far as Johnson’s announcement not to seek re-election, his announcement came eight months before the election (March 1968), whereas Biden’s announcement comes just 14 weeks before the election.
It is impossible to ignore contributing factors outside of Biden’s mental and health that might have led to his decision to drop out of the race.
Biden’s poll numbers around the country have been slipping, with several polls showing him losing swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Other speculations have been that Biden is losing Black voters in droves and that even members of the Democratic party don’t Vice President Harris to take over as president if Biden somehow became incapacitated during a second term.
His announcement sets the stage for the conclusion to a political career that has spanned nearly 50 years – one that saw Biden enter as one of the youngest senators in US history and exit as the country’s oldest president.
The decision to step down comes just days after 1,400 Black women wrote a letter in support of a second term for Biden. In response to Biden’s announcement, Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries doubled down on that letter, saying “America is a better place today” because of all that Biden has done for the country.
“President Joe Biden is one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history. In less than one term, he rescued the nation from a once-in-a-century pandemic, brought the economy roaring back from the brink of recession, enacted consequential legislation for everyday Americans and saved our democracy by defeating the Insurrectionist-in-Chief,” Jeffries said.
“America is a better place today because President Joe Biden has led us with intellect, grace and dignity. We are forever grateful.”
But the scene now shifts to Vice President Kamala Harris, who Biden endorsed shortly after announcing his intention to not seek re-election, and the DNC will be responsible for confirming that pick or choosing another candidate to oppose Trump in the November election.
In a statement, Rev. Al Sharpton said: “Vice President Harris and every Black woman in a seat of power are already under attack. Democrats and all Americans who trust in the fundamentals of democracy, freedom, and equality must put aside their differences to rally behind them. The attacks we have seen will only be supercharged as she prepares to take on Donald Trump this November. Racist, sexist tropes will be deployed to question every action or accomplishment in her life – just as we saw with Claudine Gay earlier this year. We must remember Vice President Harris was elected by the American people to stand ready to serve as the leader not just of her party but this entire nation. We know the playbook, but we also know her track record as a prosecutor, as Senator and now as Vice President. She has also been a staunch ally of the National Action Network.”
He continued, “President Biden has turned to her repeatedly for guidance on the most pressing issues facing our community and her fingerprint is on all of the things that the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered for Black America. It will be imperative for all Americans, especially Black men, to stand with her in this historic moment.”
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