Bye bye Biden: President drops out of election race, endorses Harris

Jacob Burg and Emel Akan
Epoch Times
Sun, 21 Jul 2024 00:00 UTC

© Mario Tama/Getty Images

President Joe Biden on July 21 dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, for the Democratic nomination.

"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," he said in a letter posted to X.

"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."

Some Democratic donors, lawmakers, and celebrities had called on President Biden to drop out as the party nominee, scrutinizing his performance in the first presidential debate with former President Donald Trump on June 27 and expressing concern for his viability in November. The president had repeatedly said he had a "bad night," was not sufficiently prepared, and initially committed to staying in the race.

"I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision," the president said in his letter.

"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," the president said.

President Biden tested positive for the virus on July 17 in Las Vegas while traveling for campaign events. He canceled his events and returned to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to self-isolate during recovery the same day.

"His symptoms have improved significantly. His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal," his doctor said in the most recent letter.

The lawmakers who had publicly stated they believe President Biden should not seek reelection were those who are facing tough elections this year in competitive swing districts.

Media reports have also suggested that various Democratic elites, including former President Barack Obama, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), had privately urged President Biden to drop out as the nominee.

One of the most recent calls came from Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the state's senior Senator in a competitive race, who said in a July 18 statement that President Biden should step down as nominee.

Mr. Tester expressed appreciation for the president's "commitment to public service and our country" but believes "President Biden should not seek re-election to another term."

He joined Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who's running for California's open Senate seat. Mr. Schiff urged the president to pass the torch to another candidate to "secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election."

Mr. Tester became the second U.S. senator after Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) to reject the president's reelection bid. Mr. Welch, in an op-ed in the Washington Post, wrote, "For the good of the country, I'm calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race."

Today's announcement to drop out of the race ends more than three weeks of speculation over his candidacy and future in the 2024 election. Multiple media reports, citing anonymous sources close to the president, suggested that he was becoming receptive to the calls from other Democrats to pass the torch to another candidate.

Initially, campaign officials rejected those rumors. T.J. Ducklo, senior adviser for communications, called the reports "baseless conjecture from anonymous sources" in a July 18 post on X.

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates also pushed back against a report suggesting that President Biden would drop out in a matter of days.

"Incorrect. Keep the faith," he wrote in a July 18 post responding to the report, adding that the president would return to the campaign trail in the following week.

Emel Akan contributed to this report.

Comment: Sky News is providing updates:

Harris will be easier to beat than Biden, Trump says

Kamala Harris will be easier to defeat in the race for the White House than Joe Biden, Donald Trump has said.

In a phone call with CNN minutes after Mr Biden announced his exit from the 2024 race, Mr Trump said he did not know who he would face, but suggested the vice president would not pose him a bigger problem than the sitting president.

Separately, in a brief phone interview with our partner network NBC News, Mr Trump said: "There has never been a president who has done such damage to our country.

"From energy independence to letting in millions and millions of illegal immigrants."

"We will fix what he has done," he continued.

When asked if he was surprised at the announcement, he said: "He should never have been there in the first place... he should have stayed in his basement."

Moments later, Mr Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform that "Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve — And never was!"

Mr Trump claimed that Biden "attained" the job as president "by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement".

"All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn't capable of being President, and he wasn't - And now, look what he's done to our Country, with millions of people coming across our Border, totally unchecked and unvetted, many from prisons, mental institutions, and record numbers of terrorists," Trump said.

"We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

The original statement can be found here:

And his endorsement of Kamala here: