Biden Withdraws from 2024 Presidential Race

(LibertySociety.com) – On July 21, President Joe Biden, 81, announced he was withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race, officially ending his campaign that he launched in April 2023.

Biden’s statement about his decision was included in a post on Twitter. He called serving as president “the greatest honor of my life.” However, he said he is ending his reelection campaign because “it is in the best interest of my party and the country.” He noted that he would serve the rest of his term. In the initial statement on Twitter, he offered thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris but did not endorse her.

In a second post on Twitter, Biden endorsed Harris “to be the nominee of our party this year.” He called for the Democratic Party to unite to “beat Trump.”

Since his June 27 debate against former President Donald Trump, an increasing number of Democratic lawmakers had been calling for Biden to withdraw because they were convinced he could not win in November. His performance in the debate, where he froze and misspoke, left many people questioning his health. His missteps continued in his welcome address at the NATO summit in Washington D.C., where he referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, even up until his July 17 diagnosis with COVID-19, Biden had insisted he was remaining in the race as the nominee. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated Biden was “absolutely not” considering dropping out of the race, and the principal deputy Biden campaign manager Quentin Fulks continued stating that Biden “is the Democratic nominee.”

The news of Biden’s withdrawal caused a flurry of speculation about the potential Democratic nominee, with former Biden White House spokesperson Jen Psaki stating whatever process is used to nominate Harris, she will “look strong and be strong at the end of the process.” As of July 22, Harris has enough delegates pledged to be the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.

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