Biden Officially Drops Out Of Presidential Race
Joe Biden announced that he is dropping out of the 2024 Presidential race in a letter released on X.
“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.”
The president added that he has plans to address the nation later this week.
“For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me re-elected. I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work,” the president wrote. “And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me.”
It is unclear how the Democratic Party will proceed from here. While President Biden did not initially endorse Vice President Harris, he soon did so in a follow-up post. Democrats needed to keep Harris as the nominee if the party wishes to take advantage of the Biden campaign war chest and staff.
In the weeks following Biden’s disastrous debate performance, a number of conflicting reports from Democratic insiders had been released as to a potential replacement.
On Thursday, independent reporter Mark Halperin reported that Biden would be stepping down as early as Sunday, which proved to be correct.
“He also will not, I’m told, endorse Vice President Harris as his successor. They’re hoping that he will endorse an open process in which the convention will be open to Vice President Harris and a few other candidates in Chicago to pick the Democratic nominee for president,” Halperin added. The sources suggested that Harris is already considering potential running mates, including Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Other candidates include Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has also been mentioned as a potential name in the mix.
No matter which direction the party ends up going, Democrats will now be scrambling to put together a winning presidential campaign just weeks out from the November election. A candidate not named Kamala Harris would have likely struggled with national name recognition, while a messy convention process could further limit the party’s seemingly limited window for success.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) stated that Democrats will have trouble getting their candidate on the ballot in a number of states and hinted that Republicans may support legal challenges. “I mean, every state has their own election system, that’s our constitutional system, that’s the way it’s done. And in some of these states it’s a real hurdle, they have a real problem of replacing the nominee at the top of the ticket,” the House speaker told CNN on Sunday.
Johnson went on to note that Biden was selected by Democratic voters to be their nominee through a months-long primary process. “It will be very interesting to see if the so-called party of democracy, the Democrats, go into a back room somewhere and switch it out and put someone else at the top of the ticket,” he said.
Democrats will have to contend with Harris’ unpopularity as well. According to latest polling data from FiveThirtyEight, just 38 percent of American voters have a positive view of the vice president.
