Joe Biden
WASHINGTON: On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced he would end his reelection campaign following a significant loss of confidence from fellow Democrats concerning his mental acuity and capability to defeat Donald Trump.
Instead, the Democratic Party has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as their candidate for the 2024 presidential race.
Biden, 81, made his announcement via a post on X, stating that he would continue serving as president until the end of his term in January 2025 and would address the nation later this week.
“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,” he wrote.
Though his initial statement did not mention Harris, he quickly followed up with an endorsement of her candidacy.
Harris, 59, now stands as the first Black woman to lead a major-party ticket in the United States. Former President Trump, the Republican candidate for the upcoming November 5 election, told CNN he believes Harris would be easier to defeat than Biden.
Biden’s decision marks a sudden shift. According to sources close to the situation, he was determined to stay in the race as of Saturday night but reversed his decision by Sunday afternoon.
“Last night the message was proceed with everything, full speed ahead,” a source told Reuters. “At around 1:45 p.m. today: the president told his senior team that he had changed his mind.”
Biden’s decision followed mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and officials after a notably poor performance in a televised debate against Trump on June 27.
During the debate, Biden’s struggles with clear articulation overshadowed Trump’s own controversial statements, fueling concerns about Biden’s fitness for another term.
His subsequent gaffes, including confusing the names of world leaders at a NATO summit and mistakenly referring to Harris as “Vice President Trump,” exacerbated these concerns.
Biden’s recent diagnosis of COVID-19, his third, further complicated matters, forcing him to cut short a campaign trip. This health issue, combined with his debate performance, led to public calls from over one in ten congressional Democrats for him to withdraw from the race.
Prominent figures, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urged him to step aside, doubting his ability to secure another term.
Despite initially resisting these pressures, Biden’s announcement brings to an end a historic presidency, making him the first sitting president to forgo his party’s nomination for reelection since Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
The Democratic Party now faces the challenge of rallying behind Harris, who, if confirmed as the nominee, will campaign against Trump with less than four months until the election.
Harris’s potential nomination would mark a significant milestone, as she would be the first Black and Asian American woman to run for the White House in a country that has elected only one Black president and no female presidents in its history.
Biden’s withdrawal has left the Democratic Party in a precarious position, needing to swiftly solidify their campaign strategy.
Biden’s campaign had initially hoped that a strong debate performance would alleviate concerns over his age and capability.
However, the opposite occurred, with a Reuters/Ipsos poll revealing that approximately 40% of Democrats felt he should exit the race post-debate. This sentiment was echoed by key party donors and supporters who began to back Harris.
With Biden’s departure, the Democratic Party must now navigate the complexities of a convention and a potentially open field for nominations.
The party’s superdelegates and uncommitted delegates will play a crucial role in determining the final nominee. As the campaign season intensifies, the contrast between Harris, a former prosecutor, and Trump, facing multiple legal challenges, will define the upcoming election.
