World

Joe Biden drops out of election, backs Harris as presidential nominee

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Digital Desk

2 years ago

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Sunday withdrew from the 2024 White House race following mounting calls from many Democrats at the highest levels for the octogenarian leader to make way for a new nominee.

Biden’s exit comes after a series of embarrassing gaffes in recent weeks that raised questions over his ability to take on Donald Trump in the November election.

POTUS Joe Biden said Sunday he was endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for the 2024 election. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year,” Biden said on X.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while I have intended 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 on X.

Biden said he will remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025. He will address the nation this week.

The first in-person showdown of the 2024 campaign between President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, opened with the terms and conditions in the incumbent’s favor. Instead, it marked the beginning of the end of Biden’s reelection hopes, heralding a dramatic – and for some, traumatic – period in the history of US presidential campaigns.

Delegates fall in line

The formal nomination process for a candidate occurs at the party’s summer nominating convention, where delegates chosen from all 50 states, the US capital, and overseas territories officially anoint a candidate chosen by voters during the primaries.

Biden overwhelmingly won the primary votes, and the party’s roughly 3,900 delegates heading to the convention — scheduled to begin August 19 in Chicago — are pledged to back him.

However following Biden’s shock announcement, delegates from several states including Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina swiftly pledged their support for Harris. A slew of delegates from elsewhere were also beginning to fall in line.

“I hope that we don’t see a situation where we’re Democrats who are looking for an opportunity to make a name for themselves, try to grandstand and become candidates in this race,” Hendrell Remus, chair of the Tennessee Democratic party, told AFP.

“I think now is the time for us to get behind Kamala Harris as a nominee.”

Digital Desk