Joe Biden drops out of 2024 race, endorses Kamala Harris to be Democratic nominee
CTV
U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for re-election after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about the incumbent's fitness for office with the election just four months away. It was a late-season campaign thunderstrike unlike any in American history.
U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for re-election after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about the incumbent's fitness for office with the election just four months away. It was a late-season campaign thunderstrike without parallel in the country's political history.
The president -- intent on serving out the remainder of his term in office -- quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take on Trump and encouraged his party to unite behind her, making her the party's instant favorite for the nomination at its August convention in Chicago.
The announcement is the latest jolt to a campaign for the White House that both political parties see as the most consequential election in generations, coming a week after the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
A party's presumptive presidential nominee has never stepped out of the race so close to the election. President Lyndon Johnson, besieged by the Vietnam War, announced in March 1968 that he would not seek another term after just a single state's primary. Biden's July decision comes after more than 14 million Democrats cast votes supporting him through the primary process.
Harris, in a statement, praised Biden's "selfless and patriotic act" and said she intends to "earn and win" her party's nomination.
"I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party -- and unite our nation -- to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda," she said.
Biden's decision to bow out came after escalating pressure from his Democratic allies to step aside following the June 27 debate, in which the 81-year-old president trailed off, often gave nonsensical answers and failed to call out the former president's many falsehoods.
