BREAKING: President Biden ends 2024 re-election bid – National & International News – SUN 21Jul2024

President Joe Biden has officially ended his 2024 re-election campaign. In a separate statement, he appears to endorse VP Kamala Harris.

President Biden ends 2024 re-election bid

After weeks of speculation and mounting pressure from his fellow Democrats, President Joe Biden issued a statement on Twitter today announcing that he was stepping down as the 2024 Democratic Presidential candidate. Biden is still recovering from COVID and will give a speech later this week to give more details. 

In the statement, which touts Biden’s policy successes, Biden said, “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.”

This language echoes the sentiments of many Democrats who had called on him to step down following last month’s debate with former President Trump in which Biden at times struggled to communicate clearly. The calls for him to step down only got louder and more numerous in the following weeks due to a number of other missteps in interviews and public appearances. 

Endorsement of Harris

In a separate statement on Twitter, Biden appears to endorse his Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place as his party’s nominee. There has been a lot of speculation as to who could potentially replace him and what process would be used to choose a replacement. Biden’s endorsement of Harris may make that process more straightforward, since Biden alone has the power to direct his delegates. 

In polls, Harris performs better against Trump than Biden. There are other Democrats on the national stage that perform better than Harris. However, none of those potential candidates are currently favored to defeat Trump.

Some Democratic operatives have suggested that the selection of a new VP nominee may present an opportunity to create more voter enthusiasm about the 2024 Democratic ticket. 

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