Washington (AP) — On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential contest. This came about as a result of a terrible debate with Donald Trump, which cast question on the incumbent’s eligibility for the position. Delivered fewer than four months before the election, the statement was unusual and instantly turned around a campaign that both major parties considered to be the most significant in recent memory.
Vice President Kamala Harris became the party’s immediate front-runner for the nomination at its August convention in Chicago after the president, who intended to serve out the rest of his time in office, swiftly supported her to challenge Trump and urged his party to unify behind her.
The statement, which comes one week after Trump’s attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania, is the most recent shock to the turbulent presidential campaign.
It is unprecedented for a party’s presumed presidential contender to withdraw from the contest thus close to the results. Sickened by the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson said in March 1968 that he would not run for office again after only one state’s primary. After receiving over 14 million votes in favour of him during the primary, Biden made his choice in July.
Harris said in a statement that she plans to “earn and win” her party’s candidature and commended Biden for his “selfless and patriotic act.”
She said, “I will use every resource at my disposal to bring the Democratic Party and our country together in order to defeat Donald Trump and his radical Project 2025 agenda.”
Following the June 27 debate, in which the 81-year-old president faltered, often answered incoherently, and neglected to confront the previous president’s many lies, Biden made the choice to resign in response to mounting pressure from his Democratic friends to do so.
“I have never felt a greater honour than to be your president. Even while I had always intended to run for reelection, I feel that it would be better for my party and the nation if I stepped aside and concentrated only on finishing my time as president, according to a letter that Biden posted on his X account on Sunday.
Biden backed Harris about thirty minutes after announcing that he was abandoning his candidature.
“In a subsequent post on X, I would like to extend my complete backing and recommendation for Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year.” It’s time for Democrats to unite and defeat Trump.
In the next days, Harris will have to complete an enormous political to-do list that includes selecting a running partner, winning over delegates to her party’s nomination, and turning around a major campaign that was intended to reelect Biden in order to support her candidature. Should Harris win the presidency, she would be the first woman and someone of South Asian heritage to hold both titles.
Early indications pointed to the party beginning to centre on Harris. Before she made any comments about Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race, she received the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus, former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Interestingly, however, former President Barack Obama waited and offered his support to the party’s final candidate.
“We will do everything in our power to support Vice President Harris, and we are honoured to join the President in doing so,” the Clintons said in a statement.
While praising Biden for his decision to withdraw from the campaign, Obama, who had privately expressed concerns about Biden’s prospects of winning reelection, refrained from backing Harris.
“I am extremely optimistic that our party’s leaders can establish a procedure that yields a remarkable candidate,” he said in a press release.
After receiving a COVID-19 diagnosis last week, Biden has been withdrawing to his Delaware beach home and talking with a small group of close friends and family members about his political future. This choice coincided with his growing isolation. In order to provide “detail” about his choice, Biden said he will address the country later this week.
People familiar with the incident who spoke on the private conversations on condition of anonymity said that Harris learned of Biden’s intentions on Sunday morning and that White House and top campaign personnel were informed only minutes before the letter was sent out. For the last few days, Biden had been considering his options, and he made a well considered choice.
Democrats now have an incredible challenge: in just a few short weeks, they must attempt to restore consistency to the nomination process and persuade voters that their candidate is capable of handling the job and defeating Trump. And after concentrating on Biden for years, Trump has to turn his attention to a new rival.
With this choice, Biden’s 52 years in electoral politics come to an abrupt and unexpected conclusion. Legislators, fundraisers, and even close advisors doubted his ability to persuade voters that he could legitimately serve another four years in office.
With all but one nomination battle won by Biden, he secured the lion’s share of delegates and would have been automatically nominated. Those delegates will be free to back another contender now that he has withdrawn.
Because no other contender is able to directly access the Biden campaign’s war fund due to federal campaign finance regulations, Harris, 59, seemed to be the obvious choice to succeed Biden.
Given that she is taking over his political organisation, Biden’s campaign officially changed its name to Harris for President, indicating her advantage in the contest for the Democratic nomination. Documents renaming their joint fundraising committees to reflect Harris’ candidature were also submitted by Democratic organisations, such as the Democratic National Committee.
The Democratic Party had declared that it will have a virtual roll call to officially nominate Biden prior to the start of in-person procedures. The Democratic National Convention is set to take place in Chicago from August 19–22.
Whether Harris would face competition for the nomination remained to be seen. Governor of California Gavin Newsom, who was mentioned as a potential Biden substitute last year, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who competed against both Biden and Harris for the Democratic nomination in 2020, endorsed her on Sunday.
The party will “undertake a transparent and orderly process” to choose “a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November,” according to a statement released by Jaime Harrison, the head of the Democratic National Committee.
Jonathan Kott, a longtime advisor to West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, has informed Manchin that he may re-register as a Democrat in order to run for the vice presidential nomination. Manchin quit the Democratic Party earlier this year to become an independent.
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In an effort to secure the nomination, Harris spent her Sunday afternoon phoning Democratic delegates and elected officials.
On Sunday, Harris got her first set of delegates for the Democratic presidential candidature. The Tennessee Democratic Party announced on X that, after Biden’s withdrawal from the race, its delegation decided to support Harris during a meeting on Sunday.
The governors of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Arizona, Sen. Mark Kelly, and Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who hail from swing states and were floated as potential running mates for Harris, also backed Harris on Sunday night.
In response to the announcement, Trump said on his Truth Social page that Biden “was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve.”
He went on, “We will suffer greatly from his presidency, but we will quickly undo the damage he has caused.” “RESTORE GREATNESS IN AMERICA!”
Even while Biden was the candidate whom Trump and his team had shown a desire to take on, as pressure mounted on Biden to resign, Trump’s campaign escalated its assaults on Harris.
Democratic leaders swiftly issued remarks applauding Biden’s decision, even those of them who spearheaded the campaign to remove him from the race.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said, “His decision was not easy, of course, but he once again put his country, his party, and our futurefirst.” “Today demonstrates your patriotism and greatness as an American, Joe.”
New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the head of the House Democratic Caucus, called Biden “one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history.”
If Biden is unfit to run for office, he ought to step down right now, according to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. “November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” Johnson stated in a statement.
This week, in addition to his scheduled speech to the nation, Biden still plans to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, according to a source with knowledge of the president’s itinerary who was not allowed to make public comments.
There is still some uncertainty over the precise time of the meeting since Biden is still recovering from COVID. While in Washington, Netanyahu is planned to meet with Harris in addition to giving a speech to Congress on Wednesday.
In 2020, Biden made a strong case for himself as a leader in transition who want to serve as a link to the next generation of leaders. However, he found it difficult to give up the profession he had worked so hard for decades.
When asked whether he thought any other Democrats could defeat Trump, Biden said.
Biden said, “Probably fifty of them.” “No, there are others who can beat him, but I’m going to beat him.”
As the nation’s oldest president already, Biden has repeatedly emphasised to voters that he was ready for another term and another campaign, encouraging them to just “watch me.”
And they did observe him. Democrats and contributors said publicly what several had been saying in private for months—that they did not believe he was qualified for the position for another four years—after his dismal debate performance, setting off a chain reaction of fear.
Though Trump is just three years younger at 78, Biden has been plagued by age-related concerns ever since he declared his candidature for reelection. According to an August 2023 survey by The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, the majority of Americans believe that the president is too elderly to serve a second term. The majority also question his mental fitness to serve as president, but this is another one of Trump’s weaknesses.
Biden often said that while he was not as youthful as he once was and that he no longer spoke or walked with the same ease, his expertise and decades of experience were very valuable.
As a Biden, I pledge to you. A day after the debate, he addressed supporters at a rally in North Carolina, “I would not be running again if I did not believe with all my heart and soul I can do this job.” “Because the stakes are just too high, quite frankly.”
Voters had other issues with him, though, since he has been a highly unpopular leader despite leading the country through its recovery from a pandemic, overseeing a thriving economy, and passing significant bipartisan legislation that will have an ongoing effect on the country. The majority of Americans are unhappy with the way he is carrying out his duties, and he has consistently received bad marks on important topics like immigration and the economy.
Biden’s reasons for candidature were closely linked to those of Trump. After his son Beau passed away and he served as vice president for eight years under Obama, he had retired from public office. However, he decided to run after hearing Trump’s remarks at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when white nationalists stormed the city to demand the removal of Confederate memorials.
“On both sides, there were very fine people, but there were also some very bad people in the group,” said Trump. In both directions.
First lady Jill Biden reshared her husband Joe Biden’s letter announcing his decision along with several red heart emojis in response to the president’s statement.
“I’m nothing but proud of my Pop,” Naomi Biden Neal, a granddaughter, said on social media. He has served the nation “with every bit of his soul and with unmatched distinction,” she said, adding that “because of him, our world is better today in so many ways.”
