The President of the United States and presumptive nominee of the Democrat party, Joseph R. Biden, in a stunning announcement on Sunday, said he will not accept the nomination of his party to run for a second term. Biden has come under intense scrutiny and calls from within his party and beyond to drop out of the race after a lackluster debate performance against Republican and former president Donald J. Trump.
Several prominent Democrats, including former house speaker, Nancy Pelosi, former President Barack Obama and senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, have reportedly urged Biden to consider quitting the race, in private conversations. The president remained in defiant mode and had vowed to stay on even after several polls were released showing him trailing badly behind Donald Trump in key battle ground states.
All that ended on Sunday night when Biden posted a letter addressed to the American people on his X (formerly known as Twitter) handle, where he announced he is dropping out.
“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.
“I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”
The President also quickly followed that announcement with an endorsement of his vice president, Kamala Harris, to succeed him.
Biden in a subsequent tweet wrote that his “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,” Biden wrote.
“Let’s do this.”
