President Biden announced Sunday that he was dropping out of the presidential race, a historic and politically shocking move that came nearly three weeks after a disastrous debate defeat stoked concerns about Biden’s age and allowed rival Donald Trump to widen his already-solid lead in the polls.
This is the first time a sitting president has announced he would not run for reelection in 56 years, since Lyndon Baines Johnson dropped out in 1968.
“Serving as your President has been the greatest honor of my life,” Biden said in a letter to the nation on his social media accounts. “While I intended to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and our country that I step aside and focus on fulfilling the duties of my presidency for the remainder of my term. I will speak to the nation in more detail about this decision later this week.”
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
It is unclear who will succeed Biden, but Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be the front-runner, judging by her status as a presidential candidate and her support from Democratic Party leaders. Biden endorsed Harris shortly after she announced her withdrawal. Whoever succeeds Biden as the Democratic nominee must also choose a running mate.
The Democratic National Convention will be held from August 19th to 22nd.
Biden, 81, announced his withdrawal due to concerns about his age and cognitive ability. During his June 27 debate with Trump, Biden froze, stuttered and struggled to finish sentences, while Trump, 78, seemed full of energy and much younger. Media reports in the days after the debate cited anonymous sources as saying Biden had been declining behind the scenes for months.
Had he won in November and finished his term, Biden would have turned 86 on Jan. 20, 2029. He would already be the oldest president in history, surpassing Ronald Reagan, who was 77 when his term ended in January 1989.
A CNN instant poll showed Trump winning the debate 67-33 percent, a rare Republican victory in a politically divided era. President Trump assassination attempt That response — and his subsequent fist-pumping response to the crowd — only reinforced the public’s perception that the former president was in good health. Days later, Biden tested positive for COVID-19.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to seek the nomination and to focus my efforts on the duties of my presidency for the remainder of my term,” Biden said Sunday. “My first decision as the party’s nominee in 2020 was to select Kamala Harris as my vice president, and it was the best decision I ever made. Today, I want to fully endorse and support Kamala to be this year’s party’s nominee. My fellow Democrats, now is the time to unite and defeat Trump. Let’s do it.”
Fellow Democrats, I have decided not to seek the nomination and to focus my efforts on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My first decision as the 2020 candidate was to select Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it was the best decision I could have made… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
In the days and weeks following the debate, Biden insisted he would continue to campaign. His social media accounts on July 5th declared, “Let me be as clear as I can: I am the sitting president of the United States. I am the Democratic nominee. I will continue to campaign.” But that evening, in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Biden’s performance, while better than in the debate, failed to calm the nerves of Democratic leaders. Biden’s speeches and one press conference in the days that followed were also improvements over the debate, but they lacked the energy he displayed during the 2020 campaign and even in 2023, when he announced he would seek reelection.
Leading up to the debate, the race between Trump and Biden had been close all summer, with Trump holding a slight lead in most polls. But after the debate, Trump built a four-point lead in the RealClearPolitics average and an even larger lead in several high-profile polls. As a result, already nervous Democratic leaders spoke out publicly, urging Biden to back down.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, the first Democrat to oppose Biden, told NPR, “I think he’s way behind the curve. We need to field the best possible candidate, not the same guy that so many people have rejected, who they call a ‘double-hater.'” Around the same time, Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from New Hampshire, wrote a column in the Bangor Daily News with the headline “Donald Trump Will Win the Election and Democracy Will Be All Right.”
Then, after the Fourth of July holiday, many Democrats across the country publicly called on Biden to withdraw, and in mid-July, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current Democratic leaders reportedly privately told Biden he would lose if he continued in the race.
In retrospect, Biden’s debate performance was so bad that it may never have been possible for him to regain the support he lost. On the night of the debate, former Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill suggested Biden should withdraw. She called Biden’s performance a “crisis.”
McAskill praised Harris and California Governor Gavin Newsom for defending Biden in post-debate interviews, but added that “these two are warning a lot of Americans who are paying attention, ‘Why aren’t they running? Why aren’t Democrats putting them at the top of the list and using them to shore up some pretty glaring weaknesses in the president that were laid out tonight?'”
After the interview with Stephanopoulos, former Obama administration official David Axelrod posted on X (formerly Twitter) “The President is rightly proud of his record, but he is dangerously out of touch with people’s concerns about his abilities going forward and where he stands in this race. Four years ago at this time, the President was 10 points ahead of Trump. Today he’s 6 points behind.”
In the end, the pressure from Democrats and concerns that he would be defeated by Trump were too much for Biden to overcome.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Sunday: Said “I am not, and never have been, eligible to run for President or hold the office of the Presidency,” Biden said.
“He got to the presidency through lies, fake news and never leaving his basement.“ Trump said: “Everyone around him, including his doctors and the media, knew he was not fit to be president, and he wasn’t. And now look at what he’s done to our country: millions of people coming across our borders completely unchecked and unvetted, many of them from prisons, psychiatric hospitals and record numbers of terrorists. We will suffer greatly from his presidency, but the damage he has caused will soon be repaired. Make America Great Again!”
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Mario Tama/staff
Michael Faust He has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years, and his work has appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star and Knoxville News Sentinel.
