U.S. President Joe Biden said Sunday he was endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for the 2024 election after he dropped out of the race.
"Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year," Biden said on X.
However, with the party's presumptive nominee now gone and just over 100 days to go, the clock is ticking for Democrats to begin the fraught process of replacing him and launching a viable campaign to take on Trump.
It was not immediately clear if the party would quickly join together around Harris, or whether other candidates would scramble to put themselves forward and be anointed Biden's replacement.
Biden's decision sent shock waves across the country – and globe – and came after massive pressure from within his own party not to put himself forward as the official nominee.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election 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 in a letter posted on his personal X account.
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/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
A television debate performance against his rival Donald Trump at the end of June, during which 81-year-old Biden struggled several times to give coherent answers or challenge falsehoods uttered by Trump, prompted nationwide concern about whether he was still mentally fit for office.
The issue of Biden's age has since dominated the U.S. election campaign, overshadowed a NATO summit, and been used repeatedly Trump, 78, to attack his opponent.
Until now, Biden had insisted that he would run as the Democratic candidate in the Nov. 5 election and that he was fit for office, at one point saying that "only the Almighty" could make him drop out of the race.
But there have a been series of high-profile defections – including Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Sunday – and influential figures voicing skepticism about the viability of Biden's path to re-election, including the former speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
In endorsing Harris, Biden wrote: "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. Democrats – it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this."
