President Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who announced she would withdraw from running for reelection in 2024.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus my efforts on the duties of your presidency for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote on Twitter Sunday afternoon.
“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 fully endorse and support Kamala to be our party's nominee this year. Democrats, it's time to unite and defeat Trump. Let's do it together,” he continued.
Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race just minutes before endorsing Harris.
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on June 28, 2024. (Biz-Aif Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Serving as your President has been the greatest honor of my life, and while I intended to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and our country for me to step down and focus solely on fulfilling the duties of my presidency for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in the letter posted to X on Sunday afternoon.
Biden also said he would speak more to the public about his decision “later this week.” As of Sunday afternoon, Harris had not tweeted about Biden's withdrawal.
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President Biden speaks during a campaign rally in Philadelphia on April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beyer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump thanked Harris for her work in his administration but stopped short of endorsing her in his initial letter. Harris had been seen as a leading candidate to succeed Biden before he formally left office.
Democrats have been calling for Biden to withdraw from the race for weeks after he stumbled and appeared more erratic than usual during the June 27 debate, raising further questions about his mental health.
But early on Sunday morning, Biden's supporters and campaign officials stressed that the president would not withdraw from the race.
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“That's false, and I think it's a mistake to continue to fuel this narrative. Joe Biden has said he's in this race,” deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said on MSNBC on Sunday. “He's in this race to win. He's directing us to continue our plan to make sure we communicate.” [to as] “I want as many voters as possible to vote. Actions speak louder than words, but sometimes, like in this case, you wish people would stop asking this question if words spoke louder. But we're doing both. The president is running to win this race and he's committed to not going anywhere.”
President Biden and former President Trump (Win McNamee/Getty Images | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Biden's withdrawal came shortly after former President Donald Trump was formally nominated as the Republican presidential candidate. Trump attended the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last week, where he announced Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate and accepted the nomination.
The Republican National Convention took place just two days after President Trump was wounded in the right ear and nearly killed in an assassination attempt. Last Saturday, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding President Trump and two others and killing a 50-year-old married man who was trying to shield his wife and family from the gunfire.
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Former President Trump arrives at the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump addressed the shooting during his highly anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention, saying, “You'll never hear from me about this again, because it hurts too much to talk about.”
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“I was not supposed to be here tonight,” he said. “It is only by the grace of Almighty God that I am standing before you in this arena. And if you look at the reports over the last few days, many have said this was a providential moment, and perhaps it was.”
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“For the rest of my life I will be grateful for the love shown by that huge crowd of patriots who bravely stood up on that fateful night in Pennsylvania,” he added.