WASHINGTON DC: US President Joe Biden on Sunday dropped his re-election bid amid mounting opposition within his own Democratic Party and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the party's nominee against Republican Donald Trump.
Biden, 81, said in a post on X that he would remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025 and would address the nation this week.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as president. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and country that I step down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote. .
His initial statement did not include an endorsement of Harris, but he followed up minutes later with an expression of support.
Biden's campaign has been on the ropes since a disastrous June 27 debate against former President Trump, 78, in which the incumbent struggled at times to finish his thoughts.
Opposition within Biden's party has gained momentum in the past week, with 36 congressional Democrats — more than one in eight caucus members — publicly calling on him to end his campaign.
Lawmakers said they feared it would cost him not only the White House but the chance to control either chamber of Congress in the Nov. 5 election, leaving Democrats without a meaningful grip on power.
That was in stark contrast to what happened in the Republican Party last week, when members rallied around Trump and his running mate, US Sen. JD Vance, 39.
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Harris, 59, will become the first black woman to run at the head of a major party ticket in the country's history.
Trump told CNN on Sunday that he thinks Harris will be easier to beat.
Biden changed his mind at the last minute, a source familiar with the matter said. The president told allies that as of Saturday night he planned to stay in the race before changing his mind Sunday afternoon.
“Last night the message was continued full speed ahead,” the source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Around 1:45pm today: The president told his senior team that he had changed his mind.”
Biden announced his decision on social media within minutes.
It was unclear whether other top Democrats would challenge Harris for the party's nomination — she was considered the front-runner for many party officials — or whether the party itself would choose to open the field for nominations.
Congressional Republicans have argued that Biden should resign immediately, which would hand the White House to Harris and put House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, next in line.
“If he is incapable of running for president, how is he capable of governing now? I mean, there's five months left in this administration. It's a real concern and it's a danger to the country,” Johnson told CNN on Sunday before Biden's announcement.
HE GAVE ME EVERYTHING
Biden's announcement comes after a wave of public and private pressure from Democratic lawmakers and party officials to drop out of the race after his shockingly poor debate.
His troubles diverted public attention from Trump's performance, in which he made a series of false statements, and trained him instead on questions about Biden's health for another 4-year term.
A few days later, he expressed new concerns in an interview, shrugging off Democratic concerns and a widening gap in opinion polls and saying he would be fine losing to Trump if he knew “will give everything”.
His gaffes at a NATO summit — invoking Russian President Vladimir Putin's name when referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and calling Harris “Vice President Trump” — fueled further anxieties.
Just four days before Sunday's announcement, Biden was diagnosed with COVID-19, forcing him to cut short a campaign trip to Las Vegas. More than one in 10 Democrats in Congress have publicly called on him to drop out of the race.
The historic move by Biden — the first sitting president to relinquish his party's re-election nomination since Vietnam War-era President Lyndon Johnson in March 1968 — leaves his replacement less than four months to run a campaign.
If Harris is nominated, the move would represent an unprecedented gamble by the Democratic Party: its first black and Asian American woman to run for the White House in a country that has elected a black president and never a female president in more than two. centuries.
Biden was the oldest US president ever elected when he defeated Trump in 2020. During that campaign, Biden described himself as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders. Some interpreted that to mean he would serve a term, a transitional figure who defeated Trump and brought his party back to power.
But he has set his sights on a second term, believing he is the only Democrat who could beat Trump again amid questions about Harris' experience and popularity. Lately, however, his advanced age has begun to show more. His gait became strained and his childhood stammer returned from time to time.
His team had hoped a strong performance at the June 27 debate would ease concerns over his age. He did the opposite: A Reuters/Ipsos poll after the debate showed about 40 percent of Democrats thought he should drop out of the race.
Donors began to revolt and Harris' supporters began to rally around her. Top Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime ally, told Biden he could not win the election.
Biden initially resisted pressure to withdraw. He held damage control calls and meetings with lawmakers and state governors and participated in rare television interviews. But it wasn't enough. Polls have shown Trump's lead in key battleground states widening, and Democrats have begun to fear a breakdown in the House and Senate. On July 17, Rep. Adam Schiff of California called on him to drop out of the race.
Biden's departure creates a sharp new contrast between Democratic front-runner Harris, a former prosecutor, and Trump, who is two decades her senior and faces two pending criminal prosecutions related to his attempts to overturn the election results of 2020. He is due to be sentenced in New York in September for attempting to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star.
BIDEN WORKED BEFORE THE DEBATE
Earlier this year, facing little opposition, Biden easily won the Democratic primary race to choose his presidential nominee, despite voters' concerns about his age and health.
His staunch support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza has eroded the support of some in his own party, particularly young progressive Democrats and black voters, who make up a key part of the Democratic base.
Many black voters say Biden has not done enough for them, and enthusiasm among Democrats for a second Biden term has been low. Even before the debate with Trump, Biden was trailing the Republican in some national polls and in the battleground states he would need to win to prevail on November 5.
Harris has been tasked with reaching out to those voters in recent months.
During the primary race, Biden amassed more than 3,600 delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. That was nearly double the 1,976 needed to win the party's nomination.
Unless the Democratic Party changes the rules, delegates who have pledged to Biden will enter the convention “uncommitted,” leaving them to vote for his successor.
Democrats also have a system of “superdelegates,” senior party officials and elected leaders whose support is limited on the first ballot but could play a decisive role in later rounds.
Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by winning key battleground states, including close races in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Nationally, he beat Trump by more than 7 million votes, capturing 51.3% of the popular vote to Trump's 46.8%.
