Joe Biden Withdraws From Election, Endorses Kamala Harris For President

Sunday afternoon (July 21) President Joe Biden announced his decision to drop out of the 2024 Presidential race. Although he is no longer aiming for a second term, President Biden is committed to finishing his current tenure as Head Of State. The move comes amid a battle against COVID-19 after being diagnosed with the contagious illness in Las Vegas last week, as well as pressure to step aside from his Democratic peers continued to build.

According to CNN, senior members of President Biden’s team were only made aware of his choice shortly before the announcement was public.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it 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 to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” wrote the 81-year-old politician in a memo shared across his social media accounts.

In his revelation, President Joe Biden also fully endorsed current Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement for the Democratic party in the fight for the White House.

“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,” he said in another post on X.

“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.”

According to the Associated Press, in a report published Saturday before President Biden withdrew his campaign, a poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Kamala Harris would make a satisfactory President. The same data found about 2 in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

The poll of 1,253 adults was conducted July 11-15, 2024, and is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.