Joe Biden is out of the race. Here's what this moment means.
A watershed event for Democratic politics
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President Joe Biden announced this afternoon that he is withdrawing from the November presidential election, succumbing to nearly a month of mounting pressure after a catastrophic debate performance in late June against Donald Trump.
“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 in a statement released on Twitter.
This marks the first time that an incumbent president has declined to run for re-election since former President Lyndon B. Johnson withdrew from the 1968 election after mass protests over the Vietnam War.
Biden, who will address the nation in a televised speech later this week, thanked Vice President Kamala Harris for being an “extraordinary partner. He then endorsed her for president in another tweet.
What happens next is uncertain. Every state has completed its presidential primary, so voters will not officially weigh in on who winds up being the Democratic nominee. Harris is seen as the likely frontrunner, given her position and the importance of Black women to the Democratic coalition, though some party leaders have expressed a desire to see some kind of open primary with televised debates.
In that case, the party could host a series of forums with interested candidates, with voters weighing in via polling. A number of governors — Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, California’s Gavin Newsom, Illinois’s JB Pritzker, and Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro have often been mentioned as candidates.
This is a watershed moment for Democrats because it shows that the party leadership’s steadfast adherence to tradition and institutions can be challenged and changed at the highest level. A gerontocracy with top leaders in their 70s and 80s, many of whom have been in office since the 1970s and ‘80s, the Democratic Party has in many ways failed to keep up with the urgency of the political moment; from disinterest in investigating and reforming the Supreme Court to prosecuting former president Donald Trump until more than two years into Biden’s term, its hesitation and institutionalism have hampered the effort to prevent Republican takeover of government.
The pressure on Biden came from voters, lawmakers, and donors alike, so just who winds up the nominee will help determine who takes control of the party.
It is unlikely to be a full-throated progressive, but preventing party leaders from tacking conservative will be critical during this sliding door moment. Biden proved to be more amenable to progressive ideas than anticipated, at least in terms of domestic policy — his policy on Israel’s war in Gaza hurt him with many Democrats this spring.
Even as a one-term, Biden president will leave behind a transformative legacy, as he reintroduced industrial policy and manufacturing in the United States with several historic infrastructure and climate change laws, revived true antitrust regulation after four dormant decades, and began the Democratic Party’s move away from neoliberalism. He also can claim the mantle of most pro-union president since Franklin Roosevelt, as he appointed an NLRB that helped enable the labor movement’s revival, hosted union leaders at the White House, and walked a UAW picket line last fall.
For Biden, this marks an extraordinary shift after weeks of insisting that he would stay in the race, even as he sunk in the polls and a growing number of Democrats called for him to step down. First elected to the US Senate in 1972, he sought the presidency twice before becoming former President Barack Obama’s running mate in 2008. After sitting out the 2016 election following the death of his son, Beau Biden, he ran in 2020 and benefited from most other candidates dropping and consolidating their support behind him before the South Carolina primary.
Biden’s letter is below:
Wait, Before You Leave!
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The pressure to withdraw did not come from voters. It came from pundits like you and the NY Times.
I too am heartbroken that our President had to endure weeks of humiliating pressure from his closest allies to withdraw from the race.
This letter, however, is his George Washington moment! the man has such grace under pressure. I hope he doesn't fade away. He endorsed Kamala Harris and so will I.
She is intelligent and capable. She will not need "training wheels" to get into position. [Remember all the excuses Republicans made for Trumps early gaffes in office?! "He is new, give him a chance", blah, blah, blah. the truth is, trump was never capable to hold the position.
The money that is now in the coffers for Joe Biden will go to Kamala, hopefully seamlessly, especially that we have only 106 days until the election. We can't continue to squabble over folks who9 have not even indicated that they wanted the job [Gretchen Whitmer said no, Gavin Newsome said no. I'm not sure about the 2 others that are mentioned]