President Biden announced Sunday he is withdrawing from the presidential race, a historical and politically earth-shattering move that comes some three weeks after a disastrous debate performance fueled concerns about his age and enabled his rival, Donald Trump, to enlarge an already steady lead in polls.
It is the first time in 56 years — when Lyndon Baines Johnson dropped out of the 1968 race — that a sitting president announced in the middle of a re-election bid he was not running again.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said in a letter to Americans on his social media accounts. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, 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. I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
It is unknown who will replace Biden, although Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be the favorite based simply on her next-in-line position and her support among Democratic leaders. Moments after he announced his withdrawal, Biden endorsed Harris. Whoever succeeds Biden as the Democratic nominee must also select a vice-presidential candidate.
The Democratic National Convention is Aug. 19-22.
Biden, 81, announced his withdrawal amid concerns about his age and cognitive abilities. During a debate with Trump on June 27, Biden froze, stammered, and struggled to finish sentences as the similarly aged Trump, 78, exuded energy and appeared significantly younger. Media reports in the days after the debate cited anonymous sources who said Biden had been declining, behind the scenes, for months.
If he had won in November and finished his term, Biden would have been 86 on Jan 20, 2029. He was already the oldest President in history, eclipsing Ronald Reagan, who was 77 when his term ended in January 1989.
A CNN snap poll showed that Trump won the debate, with 67-33 percent- a rare result for a Republican in politically divided times. An assassination attempt on Trump — and his fist-pumping reaction to the crowd moments later — only reinforced the public perception of the former President’s robust health. Days later, Biden tested positive for COVID.
“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,” Biden said Sunday. “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.”
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. 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… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
In the days and weeks following the debate, Biden insisted he was staying in the race. His social media accounts on July 5 proclaimed: “Let me say this as clearly as I can: I’m the sitting President of the United States. I’m the nominee of the Democratic party. I’m staying in the race.” But that night, during a sit-down interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Biden failed to calm the nerves of Democratic leaders, even if his performance was better than the debate. Biden’s speeches and a single press conference in the following days also were an improvement from the debate but still lacked the energy that he exhibited during his 2020 run -- and even during 2023 when he announced his re-election bid.
Up until the debate, the race between Trump and Biden had been neck and neck all summer, with Trump slightly ahead in most polls. After the debate, though, Trump built a four-point lead in the RealClearPolitics average and led by more than that in several high-profile polls. That, in turn, led already skittish Democratic leaders to speak out publicly and urge Biden to withdraw.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas was the first Democrat to come out against Biden, telling NPR, “I think that he is far behind and that we have to put our best possibility forward instead of putting forward the same person that so many people, some called the ‘double haters,’ have rejected.” Around the same time, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of New Hampshire wrote a column in the Bangor Daily News under the headline, “Donald Trump is going to win the election and democracy will be just fine.”
Then, after the Fourth of July holiday, scores of Democratic legislators around the country publicly urged Biden to exit. In mid-July, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current Democratic leaders reportedly told Biden, in private, he would lose if he stayed in the race.
In hindsight, Biden’s debate performance may have been so bad that there was no way he could rebuild the support he had lost. The night of the debate, former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, implied Biden should withdraw. She called his performance a “crisis.”
McCaskill applauded Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for defending Biden in post-debate interviews but added, “Those two people are signaling to a whole lot of Americans that are paying attention, ‘How come they’re not running? How come the Democratic Party doesn’t have them at the top of the ticket instead of using them to shore up what has become after tonight some pretty glaring weaknesses in our President.’”
After the Stephanopoulos interview, former Obama official David Axelrod posted on X (formerly Twitter), “The President is rightfully proud of his record. But he is dangerously out-of-touch with people’s concerns about his capacities moving forward and his standing in this race. Four years ago at this time, he was 10 points ahead of Trump. Today, he is six points behind.”
In the end, pressure from Democrats—and their concern that he would lose in a landslide to Trump—was too much for Biden to overcome.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, on his Truth Social account Sunday, said 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,” Trump said. “All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t -- And now, look what he’s done to our Country, with millions of people coming across our Border, totally unchecked and unvetted, many from prisons, mental institutions, and record numbers of terrorists. We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Mario Tama/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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