President Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 race in a seismic decision sparked by a relentless campaign from Democrats demanding he drop out because of his cognitive decline and his dire chances against Donald Trump.
The 81-year-old stepped aside Sunday after facing weeks of questions over his fitness to serve following his disastrous presidential debate performance that sparked a series of fumbles he could not recover from.
His historic move comes 24 days after the debate and following a 50-year career in politics that culminated in the White House.
Biden announced his historic decision in a one-page letter where he committed to completing his term and soon after posted a follow-up tweet endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.
Now Democrats must race to shore up their campaign behind a new nominee with less than four months until voting day.
‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,’ Biden wrote in a letter posted to his X account on Sunday.
‘And while it has been my intention to seek reelection,’ he went on, ‘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.’
The announcement came the same day a slew of Biden’s allies went on the airwaves to insist the President was not stepping down and would continue his reelection efforts.
Biden said he would speak in more detail about his decision in remarks to the country later this week.
Last week, Biden was pulled from the campaign trail after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in the middle of a west coast swing. This led to even more speculation that he would soon drop out of the race.
It came after the showdown against Trump last month where Biden was often seen on split screen with his mouth agape and a million-mile blank stare. During his time to speak at the podium, the President would stumble, freeze, lose his train of thought and mumble his way through answers to moderator’s questions.
At one point just 12 minutes into the debate, Trump said: ‘I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.’
Trump said in a post-debate rally in Chesapeake, Virginia that he was skeptical Biden would actually drop out of the race, claiming Democrats don’t have a better option against him in November.
Trump immediately responded to Biden’s decision in a call with CNN on Sunday.
‘He is the worst president in the history of our country,’ the former president said in the call. ‘He goes down as the single worst president by far in the history of our country.’
Trump said he thinks Harris will be even easier to defeat than Joe Biden.
At his first rally after being shot, Trump already tried out a new nickname for Harris as he saw the writing on the wall for her taking over the campaign.
‘From the moment we take back the White House from crooked Joe Biden and Kamala … I call her laughing Kamala. You ever watch her? She’s crazy,’ Trump saiud at his rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on SAturday.
He added: ‘You can tell a lot by laughter she’s crazy. She’s nuts. She’s not as crazy as Nancy [Pelosi].’
The former president also took to his Truth Social account on Sunday afternoon to respond to the news that he will no longer face Joe Biden in November.
‘Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve – And never was! He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement,’ he wrote. ‘All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t.’
Trump concluded: ‘We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly.’
Joe Biden was not yet the Democratic Party’s official nominee and there is still a short time to replace him before the Democratic National Convention next month.
The party’s nominating convention is August 19-22 in Chicago, Illinois and it now appears that Harris will be at the top of the Democratic ticket by the end of that week.
Harris was initially furious over reports she was not being considered for the spot – but it soon became clear to Democrats she was the best option to replace Joe Biden.
Now kicks off the veepstakes for the current VP to choose her No. 2. Among the short list could be the likes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, both previously floated as potential replacements for Joe Biden if he would drop out.
Trump was among those that speculated former First Lady Michelle Obama would jump in the race and lead the 2024 Democratic ticket. She so far has polled best out of any other potential Biden replacements.
But Joe Biden made it clear that he is backing his VP for the 2024 race.
‘My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,’ the President wrote on X. ‘And it’s been the best decision I’ve made.’
He added: ‘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. ‘
Others flocked to endorse Harris, including Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who wrote on X: ‘Democrats must immediately unite so we can focus on winning in November. I look forward to casting my vote for Kamala Harris and doing everything I can to ensure she becomes our next president.’
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said before Biden’s bombshell announcement that the party needs to unite behind a candidate. He said an open primary would cause Democrats lose in November against Trump.
‘If you go to the convention, have an open process in the convention, It will come out the same way it came out in 1968, 1972 and 1980,’ Clyburn told CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper on Sunday morning.
‘When we had a contested process on the floor of the convention in 1980, we lost an incumbent president, and in 1972, we carried one state, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia,’ he explained. ‘And all of us know what happened in 1968 when we ran Lyndon Johnson out of the race, with a great record Lyndon Johnson had, got rid of him over one issue, the Vietnam War.’
‘Here, we are now using one issue to get rid of a president, the result would be the same.’
Both Newsom and Whitmer have denied before and after the debate that they are seeking to replace Biden on the ballot and Newsom said he would not run against friend and ally Harris.
‘President Biden is a great public servant who knows better than anyone what it takes to defeat Donald Trump,’ Whitmer posted to X on Sunday after the President ended his reelection bid.
She added: ‘My job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families’ costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan.’
Newsom responded by claiming Biden’s single term was ‘extraordinary’ and ‘history-making.’
‘He will go down in history as one of the most impactful and selfless presidents.’
Biden and his team and allies spent the weeks after the debate in damage control mode trying to quell concerns that the President is no longer fit for a second term.
And despite many party leaders and campaign officials defending Biden’s performance, Democrats were in an all-out panic after the President stumbled and mumbled his way through the debate.
The campaign said Biden’s raspy and hard-to-hear voice was the result of a cold and tried to sell the line that it was just a ‘slow start.’
But lawmakers saw through that – and nearly 40 Democratic members of Congress called on Biden to end his reelection campaign in the weeks after the debate. Among those lawmakers were some top Democrats – like Rep. Adam Schiff – and close allies of Biden.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke with Biden this afternoon, a source familiar with the call confirmed to DailyMail.com.
Some felt First Lady Jill Biden was the only pushing for her 81-year-old husband to remain on the ballot.
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wy.) accused the first lady of ‘elder abuse’ and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) wrote on X: ‘As a geriatric nurse practitioner who cared for so many older adults with cognitive impairment, this [debate] is heartbreaking to watch…’
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez held a call the weekend after the debate where they sought to reassure rank and file members of the party of his continued viability as a candidate.
According to some on the call, the party leaders largely ignored Biden’s weak showing in Atlanta on Thursday and downplayed the avalanche of criticism that followed. No one was able to ask questions and the chat function was disabled.
The members felt gaslighted by Harrison and Rodriguez and claimed they were being asked to ignore the ire situation of the party’s predicament – either toe the line and get behind Biden’s candidacy or scramble to find a replacement in just one month’s time.
Harrison offered what they described as a rosy assessment of Biden’s path forward.
‘I was hoping for more of a substantive conversation instead of, ‘Hey, let’s go out there and just be cheerleaders,’ without actually addressing a very serious issue that unfolded on American television for millions of people to see,’ Joe Salazar, an elected DNC member from Colorado who was on the call, said, according to the Associated Press
He added: ‘There were a number of things that could have been said in addressing the situation. But we didn’t get that. We were being gaslit.’