By Jeff Mason, Garrett Renshaw, and Steve Holland
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday abandoned his faltering re-election bid under growing pressure from fellow Democrats and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the party’s nominee to face Republican Donald Trump in November’s election.
Biden, who at 81 is the oldest person to ever occupy the Oval Office, has said he will remain president until his term ends on Jan. 20, 2025, and will address the nation this week. He has not been seen in public since testing positive for COVID-19 last week and is self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
“While it was my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and my country for me to step aside and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote on Twitter.
The move dramatically reshapes a White House race that has been repeatedly shaken in the past month, including Biden’s disastrous debate performance on June 27 — which prompted fellow Democrats to urge him to withdraw — the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump, 78, and Trump’s nomination last week of hardline Republican Sen. J.D. Vance, 39, as his running mate.
In opinion polls, Americans have widely expressed dismay at the prospect of a rerun between Biden and Trump.
If Harris emerges as the nominee, the move would represent an unprecedented gamble by the Democratic Party: the first black and Asian American woman to run for the White House in a country that has elected only one black president and has not elected a woman president in more than two centuries.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison said the American people would soon hear from the party about the next steps and the path to be taken in the nomination process. It was the first time in more than half a century that a U.S. president had given up his party’s nomination.
If formally nominated, Harris, 59, would become the first Black woman to lead a major party ticket in U.S. history. A former California attorney general and U.S. senator, she ran unsuccessfully for president against Biden in 2020.
“My goal is to win this nomination and to win it,” Harris said in a statement. “I will do everything I can to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump.”
Harris campaign officials, allies and supporters have begun making calls to secure delegate support for her candidacy ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from Aug. 19 to 22, multiple sources said.
Opposition to Biden’s ongoing campaign from within his own party has gained momentum over the past week with 36 congressional Democrats — more than one in eight — publicly calling for him to withdraw, driven by concerns about his mental acuity.
Lawmakers said they feared it would cost them not only the White House but also the chance to control either chamber of Congress next year, leaving Democrats without any meaningful hold on power in Washington.
It was in stark contrast to what happened in Milwaukee last week, when Republican convention delegates united around Trump, whose refusal to acknowledge his loss to Biden in 2020 led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Other prominent Democrats seen as potential vice presidential candidates include Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Andy Beshear of Kentucky.
In statements, both praised Biden and pledged to fight for a Democratic victory on Nov. 5, without specifically mentioning their ambitions or endorsing Harris as Biden’s successor. Both have been mentioned as potential replacements for Biden and could be among the candidates Harris might consider for vice president.
Trump told CNN on Sunday that he believes Harris would be easier to defeat.
last minute shift
Biden changed his mind at the last minute, a source familiar with the matter said. The president told allies that as of Saturday evening he planned to stay in the race before changing his mind Sunday afternoon.
“At approximately 1:45 p.m. today, the president informed his senior team that he had changed his mind,” the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Biden announced his decision on social media minutes later.
It is not yet clear whether other top Democrats will compete with Harris for the nomination — she was widely seen as the preferred choice of many party officials — or whether the party itself will choose to open the field to nominations.
Polls show Harris performing statistically no better than Biden against Trump.
In a hypothetical head-to-head, Harris and Trump were tied at 44% each in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted July 15-16 immediately after the assassination attempt on Trump on July 13. Trump led Biden 43% to 41% in the same poll, though the 2-point margin of error was insignificant given the poll’s 3-point margin of error.
Congressional Republicans have argued that Biden should resign immediately, which would hand the White House to Harris and put House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, next in line to succeed Biden.
“If he can’t run for president, how can he be able to govern now? I mean, there are five months left in this administration. It’s really concerning, and it’s dangerous for the country,” Johnson told CNN on Sunday before Biden’s announcement.
Johnson indicated in a separate interview on ABC that Republicans would likely try to raise legal challenges to the Democratic move to replace Biden on the ballot.
First since Johnson
The historic move by Biden – the first sitting president to give up his party’s nomination for re-election since President Lyndon Johnson during the Vietnam War in March 1968 – leaves him with less than four months to campaign.
Biden was the oldest U.S. president ever elected when he defeated Trump in 2020. During that campaign, Biden described himself as a bridge to the next generation. Some interpreted that to mean he would serve a single term, a transitional figure who defeated Trump and returned his party to power.
But he has set his sights on a second term, believing he is the only Democrat capable of defeating Trump again, amid questions about Harris’s experience and popularity. But lately, his age has begun to show more. His walk has become stilted and his childhood stutter has occasionally returned.
Donors began to rebel, Harris’s supporters began to rally around her, and top Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime ally, told Biden he could not win the election.
Harris is a former prosecutor, and Trump, who is two decades older than her, faces two pending criminal trials related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. He is scheduled to be sentenced in New York in September after being convicted of trying to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, alleging that they are politically motivated attempts to prevent him from returning to power.
Earlier this year, despite little opposition, Biden easily won the Democratic primary race to be the party’s presidential nominee, despite voter concerns about his age and health.
His strong support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has eroded support among some in his party, particularly younger, more liberal Democrats and voters of color.
Many black voters say Biden has not done enough for them, and enthusiasm among Democrats overall for a second term for Biden has been low. Even before the debate with Trump, Biden was trailing the Republican in some national polls and in the swing states he needed to win to secure victory on Nov. 5.