What started as a terrible debate ended with the sitting president cancelling his campaign.
On Sunday, the president formally withdrew from the 2024 presidential race against former President Donald Trump. Here’s a timeline of Biden’s failed reelection campaign.
Discussion
Biden appeared in the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump on June 27 but appeared to sound raspy, garble his words and struggle to form coherent sentences, immediately raising concerns within his party about his health.
Biden blamed the performance on a cold, recent international travel and a “bad night,” but that did not ease concerns about the commander in chief’s health.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – JULY 12: US President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign event at Renaissance High School on July 12, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. Biden continues to campaign despite growing calls from Democratic lawmakers, donors, political pundits and media for him to end his campaign and not seek reelection. (Photo by Bill Pagliano/Getty Images) (Bill Priano)
Concerns about his health, mental capacity and overall strength as a candidate quickly emerged in conversations on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill in the early days of the campaign.
Democrats attack Biden for the first time
Biden tried to deflect the conversation by saying he had no plans to drop out of the race and was “not going anywhere,” but the effort was unsuccessful.
Days after the debate, the first Democratic senator expressed concern about Biden’s ability to beat Trump in November and called for him to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
On July 2, just five days after the debate, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) became the first member of Congress to drop out of his party’s running mate.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) was the first Democrat to call on Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)
“Far from reassuring voters, the President has failed to effectively defend many of his accomplishments and expose many of Trump’s lies,” Doggett said in a statement. “I expect the President to make the painful and difficult decision to step aside, and I respectfully urge him to do so.”
Calls for expulsion on the rise
July 8 – Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.): “He’s concerned about health care issues. And the White House press conference today didn’t give us a clear answer. So I think there are other people out there who can get that message across better at this point. And the stakes are high.”
July 9 – Rep. Mickey Sherrill (D.N.J.): “I know this will be hard, but since the founding of our country, we have done hard things in the pursuit of democracy, and now is the time to do so again. And because I know President Biden cares deeply about the future of our country, I ask him to declare that he will not run for reelection and to lead us through the process of selecting a new candidate.”
Race crisis: Democrats call for Biden to withdraw, worry about his health
July 10 – Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT): “We cannot forget President Biden’s disastrous debate performance, and we cannot ignore or dismiss the legitimate questions that have been raised since that night.”
Actor and prominent Democrat George Clooney called on Biden to drop out of the race. (Stefania D’Alessandro/WireImage)
July 12 – George Clooney: “We cannot win the election in November with this president. Not only that, we cannot win the House of Representatives and we will lose the Senate. And this is not just my opinion. This is the opinion of every Senator, Representative and Governor that I have spoken to privately. Every single one of them, regardless of what they say publicly.”
Less than two weeks after the debate, nearly two dozen Democrats had called for Biden to be removed from the running.
The gaffes continue
The president has made several new gaffes in the crucial days following his performance in the first presidential debate, only raising concerns about his mental capacity.
At the 2024 NATO summit, Biden mistakenly introduced Russian President Vladimir Putin instead of the scheduled speaker, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated in the announcement of the Ukraine Compact at the NATO 2024 Summit in Washington, DC, on July 11, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch)
“And now I turn this agenda over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has resolve. President Putin, ladies and gentlemen,” Biden said, walking away from the podium before returning and correcting himself: “We’re going to beat President Putin.”
When asked whether Vice President Harris could win the November election if she became the Democratic nominee, Biden referred to Trump as his running mate.
“I would not have chosen her as my vice president if I believed President Trump was unfit to be president,” Biden said at a press conference in July.
“In America, we resolve our differences on the battlefield,” Biden said after the assassination attempt on Trump. A White House transcript of his speech was edited to remove the word “battle” and add the word “vote” next to it.
Trump assassination attempt
Former President Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, though he was shot in the ear and one rally attendee was killed.
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents during a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Evan Vucci)
That same day, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of Delaware, N.Y., reportedly “conveyed the caucus’s views directly to President Biden” during a one-on-one meeting in Delaware.
Biden condemned the attack and his own campaign felt some relief in the days after the shooting at a Trump rally, but Democrats’ pressure to drop out of the election is far from over.
Biden loses leadership
Calls to replace Biden as presidential candidate have resurfaced, with reports suggesting some of the president’s most loyal aides in the House and Senate leadership are urging him to consider dropping out of the race.
Rep. Adam Schiff called on Biden to drop out of the presidential race. (Jerrod Harris for Justice)
On July 17, Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top House Democrat and California Senate candidate, called on Biden to withdraw.
“President Trump’s re-election would undermine the foundations of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November,” Schiff said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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The Washington Post reported, citing people with knowledge of his thinking, that former President Obama has told allies that he believes Biden should reconsider running.
