President’s historic decision upends White House contest against Donald Trump
Joe Biden, left, with Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Philadelphia in May © Shawn Thew/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
US President Joe Biden has abandoned his re-election bid following overwhelming pressure from fellow Democrats and endorsed his vice-president Kamala Harris to succeed him, saying it was “in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down”.
The president announced his decision to quit the race in a letter published to social media on Sunday, throwing this year’s White House contest into turmoil with less than four months to go until voters in the world’s biggest economy elect their new leader on November 5.
“It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your president,” Biden said. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, 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 would speak to the country “later this week in more detail about my decision”. Biden has not been seen in public since Wednesday, when he was diagnosed with Covid-19.
He said in a second social media post that he would “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,” Biden added. “Let’s do this.”
Harris later issued her own statement saying she was “honoured” to have Biden’s endorsement, adding: “My intention is to earn and win this nomination.
“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump.”
Harris, who would become the country’s first female president should she win, quickly picked up the backing of several influential Democrats.
Former president Bill Clinton and the party’s 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton issued a joint statement saying they were “honoured to join the president in endorsing vice-president Harris”, adding they would “do whatever we can to support her”.
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California who has long been seen as a possible future presidential candidate, threw his weight behind Harris, confirming an earlier report in the FT.
“With our democracy at stake and our future on the line, no one is better to prosecute the case against Donald Trump’s dark vision and guide our country in a healthier direction than America’s vice-president,” he said in a social media post.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, also seen as a potential presidential candidate, was likewise expected to endorse Harris, according to three prominent Democratic party donors and operatives with direct knowledge of the matter.
Barack Obama, who selected Biden as his own vice-president in 2008, issued a statement calling him “one of America’s most consequential presidents, as well as a dear friend and partner”. Obama stopped short of endorsing a successor, but said he had “extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges”.
It remained unclear whether any Democrats would launch their own campaigns for the party’s nomination. Joe Manchin, the centrist West Virginia senator who switched his party registration from Democrat to independent earlier this year, was on Sunday considering switching back to being a Democrat in order to challenge Harris, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
Democrats will need to rally behind a new presidential candidate in the weeks before the party’s official nominating convention on August 19. Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison on Sunday said the party would “in short order” lay out the “next steps and the path forward for the nomination process”.
Biden’s unprecedented decision will reverberate across the globe, injecting new uncertainty into US policy at a moment of acute geopolitical tension, from the Indo-Pacific to Ukraine to the Middle East.
His announcement follows more than three weeks of wrenching debate among Democrats about his candidacy after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump reignited concerns over the 81-year-old’s mental acuity and damaged his standing among American voters. An Associated Press poll out last week found nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters said Biden should drop out of the race.
Trump had opened up a significant polling lead over Biden in national and swing state surveys in recent weeks. In a statement posted to his Truth Social platform on Sunday he said Biden was “not fit to run for president” and “certainly not fit to serve”.
Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson issued a statement calling for Biden’s immediate resignation from the presidency.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president,” Johnson said.
But Biden’s decision earned him immediate praise from several top Democrats, including Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who described him as a “great president . . . a great legislative leader” and “a truly amazing human being”.
“His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party and our future first.”
Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic House leader, said the country would be “forever grateful” to Biden for his leadership.
The decision by the 46th American president not to seek a second term marks the beginning of the end of one of Washington’s most storied political careers. Biden entered the Senate in 1973, became vice-president to Obama in 2009, and gained the Oval Office in 2020 in an era marked by a global pandemic, economic recovery, inflation and war.
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