The president plans to address the nation later this week following his announcement via a written statement shared on X. Photo courtesy of Joe Biden on X.
JASPER PILARZ | NEWS EDITOR | lpilarz@butler.edu
LILY O’CONNOR | ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR | lkoconnor@butler.edu
In posts to his official X account on July 21, President Joe Biden announced his simultaneous decisions to conclude his reelection campaign and to endorse Kamala Harris as the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nominee.
These announcements follow heightened calls for Biden to step down, as well as continued scrutiny regarding his age and ability to run for a second term. In his statement, Biden said “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”.
Biden followed the letter with another post on X endorsing his former running mate and current vice president, Kamala Harris.
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” Biden said. “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.”
Following the first debate between Biden and the Republican nominee, former president Donald Trump, on June 27, many Senate Democrats and other Democratic lawmakers expressed concern about Biden’s ability to beat Trump.
On Jul 17 Senator Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Senate Democrat to call on Biden to step down.
“I understand why President Biden wants to run,” Welch said. “He saved us from Donald Trump once and wants to do it again. But he needs to reassess whether he is the best candidate to do so. In my view, he is not. For the good of the country, I’m calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race.”
Following Biden’s announcement, former President Barack Obama released his statement on Medium, in which he described his support for Biden and deferred to the party’s nomination process to determine the Democratic nominee in August.
“Joe has never backed down from a fight,” Obama said. “For him to look at the political landscape and decide that he should pass the torch to a new nominee is surely one of the toughest in his life. But I know he wouldn’t make this decision unless he believed it was right for America.”
Additionally, Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as several Democratic lawmakers have released statements endorsing Biden’s decision to step out of the race. Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett also referred to Harris as “clearly the leading candidate.”
Republican lawmakers have taken to social media to voice their concerns about Biden’s ability to remain president through the conclusion of his current term.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said in a post on X.
Biden’s endorsement of Harris follows public and private discussions within the Democratic party regarding proposed replacements of Biden on the presidential ticket. According to recent reports, polling for Harris has been consistent as the leading choice for a replacement for the Democratic nominee. Simultaneously, Biden’s poll performance has decreased with voters who believe that a different nominee would maintain better chances of beating Trump in November.
As of Biden’s announcement, a nomination process for the Democratic National Convention has yet to be announced, as the party plans to convene on Aug. 19 in Chicago. Harris launched her presidential bid with a statement echoing the Biden campaign’s determination to beat Trump on Election day.
“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said. “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. We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”
This story features contributing reporting from editor-in-chief Leah Ollie.
