US President Joe Biden is 'standing down' from the 2024 US Presidential election, he announced today, Sunday, July 21.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," Biden said in a statement shared on social media on Sunday.
"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."
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
While Biden did not offer an explicit endorsement for his replacement in his initial statement, he posted on social media less than an hour later that he is endorsing his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to become the 2024 Democratic nominee.
"Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year," Biden said.
"Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.
"Let’s do this."
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… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
Biden, who regularly touts his Irish roots, is the first Irish American Catholic to serve as President of the United States since President John F. Kennedy.
While calls for Biden to drop out mounted after his debate against Donald Trump in June, he had remained emphatic that he would continue his campaign.
That, however, changed today.
As the Associated Press notes, a party’s presumptive presidential nominee has never stepped out of the race so close to the election.
Biden's announcement comes less than a month before the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago on August 19.
As Newsweek notes, Biden already won almost all of his party's 4,000-plus delegates with his state victories earlier this year. With Biden out, those delegates will have to cast their ballots for a new candidate.
While Vice President Kamala Harris is considered the frontrunner to replace Biden on the Democratic ticket - and has received Biden's endorsement - she is not the guaranteed nominee.
Other contenders, according to the Associated Press, are Governor Gavin Newsom, US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Governor Josh Shapiro, Governor JB Pritzker, Governor Wes Moore, Governor Andy Beshear, and Senator Raphael Warnock.
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You can read President Biden's full statement here:
My Fellow Americans,
Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation.
Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We've made historic investments in rebuilding our Nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. We've provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years. Appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. And passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world. America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today.
I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great
Depression. We've protected and preserved our Democracy. And we've revitalized and
strengthened our alliances around the world.
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.
I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.
For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected. I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me.
I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can't do - when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America.
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