President Joe Biden is no longer running for reelection in 2024. Instead, he’s throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden has been facing mounting pressure to call off his presidential campaign since last month’s debate against former president Donald Trump. Nearly a month after the highly-criticized performance, the 81-year-old sitting president announced his plan to “stand down” in a statement posted to X.com on July 21.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President, and while has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden told the American people.
Though he promised to provide more “details” about his decision “later this week,” President Biden quickly followed up his post with an endorsement of Vice President Harris.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to 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. Let’s do this.”
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As Biden’s endorsement post points out, the president was not technically the official democratic nominee yet. However, he was scheduled to be confirmed by select delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19. Instead, those delegates will now vote for a new pick, with some other possible candidates including California’s Gavin Newsom, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, and Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro.
