DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
The oldest sitting US president heeds calls to withdraw re-election bid, thrusting the high-wire White House race into an uncertain territory.
US President Joe Biden has heeded calls to withdraw his re-election bid, thrusting this year’s already high-wire race for the White House into an uncertain territory.
The announcement on Sunday by the oldest sitting president in the United States’ history came amid mounting pressure from his fellow Democrats, with more than 30 Congress members publicly pushing for his exit.
In a post on X, Biden, 81, said he will remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025 and will address the nation this week.
“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,” Biden wrote.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
His initial statement had not included an endorsement of Kamala Harris, but he followed up a few minutes later with an expression of support.
Harris, 59, would become the first Black woman to do run at the top of a major-party ticket in the country’s history.
The Democratic backlash against Biden came after he delivered an unsteady performance at the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season as he lost his train of thought and struggled to articulate basic talking points.
The 46th US president’s departure from the race leaves the Democratic Party in an unprecedented situation, with only a month until the Democratic National Convention and less than four months until the November 5 election.
It was unclear whether other senior Democrats would challenge Harris for the party’s nomination – she was widely seen as the pick for many party officials – or whether the party itself would choose to open the field for nominations.
Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, said Biden had been under a lot of pressure recently.
“It is very difficult to say what made him make the decision now,” he said. “What we do know is that he has been repeatedly insistent that he would not step down… So it comes as a bit of a surprise and a bit of a shock that Biden is saying he will step down after weeks of saying he won’t.”
