Biden, 81, said in a post on X News channel that he would remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025 and will address the nation this week.
To serve as your President has been the greatest honor of my life. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, “It is in my party and country’s interest that I resign and remain fully focused on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote.
His opening statement did not include Harris’ endorsement, but he followed up with an expression of support a few minutes later. Harris, 59, would become the first black woman to run on top of the major party ticket in the nation’s history.
It was unclear whether other senior Democrats would challenge Harris for the party’s nomination — she was widely seen as the choice for many party officials — or whether the party itself would opt to open the fray for the nomination.
Biden’s announcement came after Democratic lawmakers and party officials were under public and private pressure to quit the election following his poor performance against Republican rival Trump, 78, on television on June 27.
Biden’s failure to complete candid sentences at times diverted public headlines from Trump’s performance, in which he made a string of false statements, and instead trained on questions surrounding Biden’s fitness. He raised new concerns in an interview a few days later, dispelling a wide gap between Democrats’ concerns and opinion polls, and said he would be okay losing to Trump if he knew he would “give it his all.”
President Biden’s historic move — the first sitting since President Lyndon Johnson dropped his party’s nomination for re-election in March 1968 — leaves his replacement with less than four months to wage a campaign.
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