United States President Joe Biden dropped out of his 2024 re-election bid and endorsed his VP Kamala Harris on Sunday after growing concerns about his fitness for office.
Biden, who at 81 is the oldest sitting president in US history has been facing growing calls to resign since a disastrous debate performance against Republic presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump on June 27.
During the first 2024 presidential debate, Biden’s performance was marked by verbal blanks, a husky voice, and unintelligible arguments prompting widespread concerns about his mental and physical fitness to be president.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democratic lawmaker to call on Biden to drop out of the presidential race, he was soon joined by over 30 other House and Senate Democrats including Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Adam Schiff of California, Peter Welch of Vermont, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
Biden announced his decision in a statement on X saying
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.
July 21, 2024
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.
If a follow-up statement on X President Biden announced his decision to endorse VP Kamala Harris
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 decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.
In a statement, Harris thanked Biden for “his extraordinary leadership” and his “remarkable legacy of achievement.”
I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.
The last sitting USA president to abandon a re-election bid was President Lyndon Johnson, whose expansion of the Vietnam War in the 1960s split the Democratic Party.
