Joe Biden has withdrawn from the US presidential elections and launched Vice President Kamala Harris as the new candidate of the Democratic Party, with a surprising move that puts the race for the White House in 2024 at risk.
Or perhaps he puts it on the safe side, as will be understood in the next days. The 81-year-old Biden stepped aside after weeks of pressure from Democrats following a disastrous performance in the debates, which led to an unprecedented upset in the final mile of a presidential race.
The polls of the last few days were merciless. “It has always been my intention to seek re-election, but I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country to step aside and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden said. in a letter on X. Biden is still recovering from Covid and is spending this period at his beach house in Delaware.
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Biden withdraws and supports Kamala Harris
“I am honored by Joe Biden’s endorsement, I will earn the nomination and beat Trump.” Kamala Harris said it. The president assured that he “will speak to the nation in more detail later this week” about his decision.
Biden added that he supports Harris, who is the first female, black and South Asian vice president in the history of the United States and who will now aim to become the first female commander in chief. “I want to offer my full support and endorsement to Kamala as our party’s nominee this year,” Biden said on X.
‘Democrats – it’s time to unite and beat Trump. Let’s do it.'” Biden was the first president in U.S. history to withdraw so late from an election race, and the first to withdraw due to concerns about his mental clarity and health.
For three weeks Joe Biden held out to calls to resign after the shock of the June 27 debate, insisting at one point that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to step down and trying to prove he was up to the task Biden has given a series of interviews and what was presented as a “grown-up” press conference, in which he answered numerous questions, but made other gaffes, including calling Harris “Vice President Trump”.
The decision to step aside
The demands of his own party, from donor and actor George Clooney to former president Barack Obama, sealed his fate. Biden’s decision came shortly after his Covid diagnosis, which forced him to abandon the election campaign and isolate himself in Rehoboth Beach.
Biden’s withdrawal came at the end of a tense and chaotic period in the US elections, with Trump surviving an attack during an election rally on 13 July. The decision to retire places Joe Biden in the club of US presidents who have decided to throw in the towel after a single term, the last of which was Lyndon Johnson in 1968, a year also marked by political turbulence and violence.
His running mate, then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey, lost heavily to Richard Nixon. Over the past year, Kamala Harris has stood out as a strong campaign performer on key messages such as abortion rights.
She has also made much of her history as the first woman in US history to hold the vice presidency, as well as the first person of color and South Asian descent. For her party, Harris is now ready to be nominated at the Democratic Convention in Chicago on August 19th.
Even if it will be clear in the next few days whether Joe Biden’s endorsement will be enough to obtain the definitive green light from his party, given the doubts that some of the leading Democrats had raised about his real possibilities of winning the November against Trump.
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