WASHINGTON DC: US President Joe Biden on Sunday abandoned his faltering re-election bid amid growing 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 will remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025 and will address the nation this week.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your 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 a statement 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 from within Biden's party gained steam last week as 36 Democrats in Congress — more than one in eight members of the committee — publicly called on him to end his campaign.
Lawmakers have said they fear it could cost them not just the White House but the ability to control either chamber of Congress in the Nov. 5 election, leaving Democrats with no 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.
This section contains relevant reference points located in (opinion box)
Harris, 59, would become the first black woman to run at the top of a major party's ticket in the country's history.
Trump told CNN on Sunday that he believes 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 he planned to stay in the race as of Saturday night before changing his mind Sunday afternoon.
“Last night, the report went full speed ahead,” the source told Reuters 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 senior Democrats would challenge Harris for the party's nomination — she was widely seen as the choice for many party officials — or whether the party itself would decide to open the field for nominations.
Republicans in Congress have argued that Biden should resign immediately, handing the White House to Harris and House Republican Mike Johnson next in line.
“If he is not capable of running for president, how is he capable of governing right now? There are five months left in this administration. It's a real problem and it's a danger to the country,” Johnson told CNN on Sunday before Biden's announcement.
HE GAVE IT HIS ALL
Biden's announcement follows a wave of public and private pressure from Democratic lawmakers and party officials to drop out of the race after his shockingly poor debate performance.
His troubles have diverted the public's attention from Trump's performance, in which he made a series of false statements, and trained it instead on questions about Biden's eligibility for another 4-year term.
Days later, he raised new concerns in an interview, shrugging off Democratic concerns and a widening gap in the polls and saying he would be fine with losing to Trump if he knew he “gave it his all.”
His rants at the NATO summit — invoking Russian President Vladimir Putin's name when he meant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and calling Harris “Vice President Trump” — added excitement.
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 ten Democrats in Congress have publicly called on him to drop out of the race.
Biden's historic move — the first sitting president to relinquish his party's re-election nomination since President Lyndon Johnson during the Vietnam War in March 1968 — leaves his replacement with less than four months to run the campaign.
If Harris emerges as the nominee, 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 one black president and never a woman president in more than two countries. century.
Biden was the oldest US president ever elected when he defeated Trump in 2020. During that campaign, Biden positioned himself as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders. Some have interpreted this as a one-term, transitional figure who will defeat Trump and bring his party back to power.
But he set his sights on a second term in the belief that he was the only Democrat who could beat Trump again, amid questions about Harris' experience and popularity. Recently, however, his advanced age has begun to show more. His walking stopped and his childhood stuttering occasionally returned.
His team hoped a strong performance at the June 27 debate would ease concerns about his age. He did just the opposite: a Reuters/Ipsos poll after the debate showed about 40 percent of Democrats think he should drop out of the race.
Donors began to riot and Harris supporters began to rally around her. Top Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime ally, have told Biden he cannot win the election.
Biden initially resisted pressure to back down. He held damage control calls and meetings with state legislators and governors and sat in on rare television interviews. But it wasn't enough. Polls showed Trump's lead widening in key battleground states, and Democrats began to fear a wipeout in both the House and Senate. On July 17, California representative Adam Schiff called on him to leave the race.
Biden's departure creates a stark contrast between the presumptive Democratic nominee, Harris, a former prosecutor, and Trump, who is two decades her senior and faces two extraordinary criminal prosecutions related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. convicted in New York of trying to cover up a secret payment to a porn star.
BIDEN RUBS HIMSELF BEFORE THE DEBATE
Earlier this year, Biden, facing little opposition, easily won the Democratic primary to elect his presidential nominee, despite voters' concerns about his age and health.
His unwavering support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza has eroded the support of some members of his own party, particularly young, progressive Democrats and voters of color who make up a substantial portion 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 win on Nov. 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 to 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, the delegates pledged to Biden will enter the convention “on a non-binding basis” and let them vote on his successor.
Democrats also have a system of “superdelegates,” unpledged senior party officials and elected leaders whose support is limited on the first ballot but who could play a decisive role in subsequent rounds.
Biden beat Trump in 2020 by winning key battleground states, including tight races in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Nationally, he bested Trump by more than 7 million votes, winning 51.3 percent of the popular vote to Trump's 46.8 percent.
