President Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, caving to pressure from Democrats who agitated for him to step aside after a debate performance that left the political world in shock.
Biden announced his decision in a social media post Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday, he also endorsed Vice President Harris to become the Democratic Party’s nominee as he announced he would not seek reelection.
The debate set off weeks of calamity around Biden’s campaign with Democratic lawmakers, donors, high-profile political analysts and celebrities abandoning any chance he had of winning in November against former President Trump.
It culminated this week in reports of senior Democratic leaders in Congress urging Biden to step aside. Matters were not helped when Biden tested positive for COVID-19, which forced him to go into isolation.
Biden had secured enough delegates during this year’s primary season to formally accept the Democratic nomination at the party’s convention, which was slated to begin Aug. 19 in Chicago.
Catch up with live updates on this developing story.
President Biden has endorsed Vice President Harris to take over as the Democratic nominee to be president, but she’ll still need to secure enough delegates to officially replace him.
Close to 4,000 delegates will gather at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago starting on August 17. Biden has won more than 3,800 of those delegates, who will now all be released to vote for whomever they choose.
To win the nomination, a candidate must secure 1,986 delegates. As of 10 p.m. on Sunday, 531 delegates had already pledged to Harris.
We’ll be updating the tracker throughout the week.
Follow along with it here.
— Yash Roy and Eden Teshome
The URL “JoeBiden.com” no longer directs to the Biden-Harris campaign website, and instead redirects to an ActBlue contribution page for Harris.
The contents of the donation page are identical to the president’s endorsement statement, with the header reading, “I am endorsing Kamala Harris to be our next President of the United States.”
The campaign will be re-designated as “Harris for President,” according to a FEC filing made Saturday evening, and “KamalaHarris.com” will be the new online home of the campaign.
— Eden Teshome
Harris spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) today, a source familiar tells The Hill.
Jeffries, notably, did not immediately endorse Harris to be the new nominee after Biden said he was withdrawing from the race.
— Mychael Schnell
The vice president will have her first public appearance on Monday since Biden ended his candidacy when she speaks at a White House event.
Harris will deliver remarks on the South Lawn at an event celebrating the NCAA championship teams from the 2023-2024 season, the White House said.
Biden has no public events scheduled for Monday.
— Brett Samuels
Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) are throwing their support behind Vice President Harris.
“With women’s rights, workers’ rights, and voting rights for Pennsylvania and the Nation couldn’t be higher. Vice President Harris has been leading on those fights and as a former prosecuter, she will draw a clear contrast between herself and former President Trump. She is prepared to be Commander-in-Chief and is the best person to meet this moment. I’m proud to endorse her candidacy,” Casey said in a statement.
Bennet, who was also a 2020 presidential primary contender, said in a statement that Harris “has the experience, record, and integrity to be the next president of the United States.”
“It’s my honor to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as our Democratic presidential nominee and the next President of the United States,” Bennet said.
— Lauren Sforza
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he respected Biden and his decision to withdraw from the race in a statement Sunday.
“I’m a classic Republican and he’s a classic Democrat; obviously, President Biden and I usually didn’t see eye-to-eye. I opposed many of his initiatives. But we did find common ground on infrastructure, Ukraine, the Electoral Count Act, adding religious liberty protections to the marriage bill, gun safety measures, and chip manufacturing,” Romney, one of former President Trump’s most prominent Republican critics, said in a statement.
“Others will judge his presidency. However, having worked with him these past few years, I respect President Biden. His decision to withdraw from the race was right and is in the best interest of the country,” he continued.
— Lauren Sforza
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) threw her support behind Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential bid on Sunday and vowed to work to ensure she wins in November.
“Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on X.
“Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy,” she continued. “Let’s get to work.”
—Sarah Fortinsky
Republican strategists and donors said Sunday they’re not worried about Vice President Harris becoming the new Democratic nominee, even though they believed their chances of defeating President Biden were at an all-time high.
The Republicans, who for weeks have been salivating at the potential for Biden to drag down other Democrats on the ticket, acknowledged Harris represents a different kind of challenge.
But they said they think they can tie Harris to Biden’s policies and that other Democrats would represent bigger threats to GOP nominee Donald Trump.
“[Pennsylvania Gov. Josh] Shapiro, [Arizona Sen. Mark] Kelly et al would scare me. She does not scare me,” one Republican operative said of Harris.
— Emily Brooks, Caroline Vakil and Julia Manchester
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) praised President Biden for his decision to step aside atop the party ticket on Sunday and expressed optimism about the energy Vice President Harris could bring to a new ticket.
“Here is the difference between a man who loves his country, and one who loves himself,” Kinzinger, a frequent critic of former President Trump’s, said in a post on X.
“Joe Biden did an honorable and selfless act by stepping aside. His legacy will be among the best. Trump cares about Trump only. And the GOP is too scared to do what the Dems did: tell the truth,” he continued.
He reposted a statement from his leadership PAC, Country First, which thanked Biden for “once again putting #countryfirst. You put the interests of American democracy first by defeating Trump in 2020, and you continue to do so by passing the torch.”
“Your leadership cements your legacy of patriotism,” the statement continued.
In a separate post, Kinzinger said he expects “there will be quite a bit of enthusiasm behind” the prospect of the Democratic party replacing their leading candidate. He responded to a post about voters consistently saying they want different choices as their candidates.
“First Gen X president possibility, and not a rematch. I expect there will be way more energy behind Kamala than people expect,” Kinzinger said.
—Sarah Fortinsky
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin praised President Biden as “one of our great foreign-policy presidents” in a statement on Sunday.
Austin said in a statement that Biden “renewed, deepened, and broadened the unmatched global network of alliances and partnerships that makes America more secure.” He praised Biden’s response to both the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza, adding that Biden has also strongly supported the U.S. military.
“President Biden has repeatedly declared, ‘We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.’ Today, he has done just that,” Austin said.
“The entire Department of Defense stands united today in saluting President Biden’s service to the country that we defend, the Constitution that we revere, and the republic that we love,” he continued.
—Lauren Sforza
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), seen as a top contender for a spot on the Democratic ticket, threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris’s bid for president.
“Tough. Fearless. Tenacious,” Newsom wrote on the social platform X.
—Sarah Fortinsky
Transportation secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said he “will do all that I can to help elect” Harris as the next president after Biden stood down as the Democratic nominee.
“Kamala Harris is the right person to take up the torch, defeat Donald Trump, and succeed Joe Biden,” he wrote. “I have seen her extraordinary leadership firstharnd, working closely with her during the 2020 campaign.”
Buttigieg, a former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is viewed as a potential running mate for Harris.
— Yash Roy
The six current Black state attorneys general are standing behind Vice President Harris, who served as California’s attorney general, writing a joint statement that “there is no one more qualified to lead and continue to uphold the values of our great nation.”
The six attorneys general are Letitia James (D-N.Y.), Kwame Raoul (D-Ill.), Anthony Brown (D-Md.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Aaron Ford (D-Nev.) and Andrea Campbell (D-Mass.)
“As District Attorney, Attorney General, Senator and now Vice President, Kamala Harris has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to protecting and expanding the rights of all Americans,” they wrote. “There is no one more qualified to lead and continue to uphold the values of our great nation.
—Yash Roy
Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.V.) is considering running against Vice President Harris for the Democratic nomination.
A source familiar with Manchin confirmed that the West Virginia senator is considering reregistering as a Democrat to seek the nomination.
Read full story here
— Al Weaver
An adviser for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) strongly pushed back on a report suggesting the governor would announce Monday that he’s “running for something,” the day after President Biden ended his reelection bid.
The Chicago Tribune reported on Sunday that a state Democratic source said Pritzker “would issue a statement about his political future on Monday” and that the source expected the second-term-governor “would be running for something.”
“Folks, this ‘one state democratic source’ does not know what they are talking about,” Pritzker’s political adviser, Mike Ollen, said on the social platform X.
— Sarah Fortinsky