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President Joe Biden on Sunday announced he was dropping out of his re-election campaign against Donald Trump, a historic decision that added new uncertainty to an already turbulent 2024 presidential race. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve you as President,” the 81-year-old Democrat wrote in a letter published on the X website as he recovered from Covid-19 at his Delaware beachfront home.
“While I intend to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of the party and the country for me to resign the presidency and focus on my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”
Biden mentioned that he would “explain my decision in greater detail to the nation later this week.”
The decision throws Democrats into disarray as they struggle to find a new candidate for the November election, with Vice President Kamala Harris emerging as the front-runner.
Biden’s move makes him the first president in U.S. history to withdraw so late in the campaign and the first to resign over concerns about his mental acuity and health.
Biden has resisted calls to step down for more than three weeks following the stunning June 27 debate, at one point claiming that only “God Almighty” could convince him to quit.
To prove his ability, Biden gave several interviews and held a “big boy” press conference, in which he answered many questions but also made further gaffes, including calling Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump.”
His fate was sealed by a growing chorus of support within the Republican Party, from donor and actor George Clooney to former President Barack Obama.
Biden’s decision came shortly after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, forcing him to withdraw from the campaign and go into quarantine.
The announcement marks a tense and chaotic period in the U.S. election campaign, which was punctuated by the assassination attempt on Trump at a July 13 campaign rally.
Biden is one of the few U.S. presidents to resign after serving just one term, following Lyndon Johnson in 1968, a year also marked by political turmoil and violence. Johnson’s successor, then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey, lost the election to Richard Nixon.
Democrats are now pinning their hopes on Harris to do better and prevent felon Trump from returning to the White House.
The Biden campaign has reportedly been quietly conducting voter surveys in recent weeks to gauge how Harris is performing against Trump.
While Harris struggled to make an impact in her first few years in the White House, she has excelled on the campaign trail over the past year, focusing on key messages such as abortion rights.
The former prosecutor also highlighted her life story as the first woman to serve as vice president and the first Black and South Asian vice president.
Biden took office in January 2021 promising to heal the “American soul” after four turbulent years under Trump and the shock of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.
Despite being known for his slips of the tongue, Barack Obama’s former vice president has managed to push through a massive coronavirus recovery package and green industry plan.
After Trump undermined international alliances, U.S. allies welcomed his declaration that “America is back” and his strong support during Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
However, he has been criticized for the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and inflation, which has caused many Americans to ignore otherwise positive economic indicators.
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