President Joe Biden has decided he will end his reelection campaign, he said in a statement released Sunday, a decision certain to send shock waves through the political world, following a stumbling debate performance that widely alarmed Democrats about the 81-year-old president’s fitness for office and ability to defeat former president.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said Sunday in a statement. “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.”
In a separate social media post Sunday, Biden endorsed his vice president, Kamala D. Harris, to replace him as his party’s standard-bearer ahead of its national convention Aug. 19-22.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” Biden said in a post shared on X. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
Harris is the first woman, Black person and Asian American to occupy the office, and now she has the opportunity to become the country’s first female president.
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Still, Biden’s exit leaves his party in a virtually unprecedented position with months until the Nov. 5 election. Vice President Harris, a former senator from California, would bring her own liabilities to the race against Trump, who Democrats consider an existential threat to democracy. Her approval ratings have largely mirrored the decline of Biden’s since 2021, and her own campaign in the 2020 presidential primary fell apart before voting began.