Joe Biden Has Dropped Out of the 2024 Presidential Race
"I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country."
In a history-making decision, President Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 race.
Following weeks of Democratic agitation after Biden's notably weak debate performance on June 27, the president announced the news via a letter addressed to "My Fellow Americans." In the letter, he outlined what he considered the biggest successes of his presidency before announcing that he would be stepping aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. 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," he wrote.
pic.twitter.com/RMIRvlSOYwJuly 21, 2024
In a follow-up post, Biden threw his support behind Kamala Harris being the Democratic nominee. Harris would run against former president Donald Trump, who formally accepted his party's nomination at the Republican National Convention last week.
"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."
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/x8DnvuImJVJuly 21, 2024
In an allusion to the past weeks, in which Democratic pundits and politicians alike had called for Biden to step aside, the president finished the letter by noting, "Democrats—it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this."
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Jenny is the Digital Director at Marie Claire. A graduate of Leeds University, and a native of London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the first intern at Bustle when it launched in 2013 and spent five years building out its news and politics department. In 2018 she joined Marie Claire, where she held the roles of Deputy Digital Editor and Director of Content Strategy before becoming Digital Director. In her spare time, she writes fiction: her first novel EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD was published in February 2024 and became a USA Today bestseller. She has also written extensively about developmental coordination disorder, or dyspraxia, which she was diagnosed with when she was nine.