Biden to withdraw from 2024 presidential race

President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, a shock decision that comes after weeks of pressure on him to drop out.

“Serving as your President has been the greatest honor of my life,” Biden wrote in a post on the social media site X.

“While I intend to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interests of our party and our country to step down and focus on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote.

“I will speak to the Nation later this week to give more details about my decision.”

The president’s decision opens the presidential race less than four months before Election Day. It also raises extraordinary questions and challenges for Democrats, who are struggling to assemble a new presidential ticket.

The next candidate will have to compete with Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance, win over donors, delegates and other allies loyal to the incumbent — and convince voters of their worth for the nation’s highest office.

But a growing number of senior Democrats have made clear in recent weeks that they prefer that difficult task to keeping Biden as their nominee.

The 81-year-old president began to lose support from his own party after a disastrous debate performance with Trump in late June.

Despite being only three years older than Trump, Biden looked and sounded significantly worse on the debate stage. He appeared stiff and sometimes had a blank stare, and he often gave hoarse, incoherent, and impactless answers.

In both character and appearance, Biden is the opposite of Trump, who looks and sounds no different than he has in recent years.

The debate immediately caused a crisis within the Democratic Party. Even before the debate ended, party officials raised doubts about whether Biden could campaign effectively against Trump.

Prominent Democratic donors and supporters have publicly urged Biden to drop out, with some vowing to withholding campaign contributions That moment.

Days after the debate, Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democrat in Congress Call on Biden to withdraw out of the race. Nearly 20 others soon followed suit, including Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont and Rep. Adam Schiff of California.

Biden and his aides have spent weeks trying to stop the bleeding. In his first post-debate interview, Biden said he believes he is the best person to take on Trump, adding that he could only be convinced to resign “if Almighty God came out and told me.”

But because of his resolute attitude, it could not be extinguished. instability in his partyBiden suggested he could be pushed to withdraw in other ways.

In a BET interview that aired Wednesday during the Republican National Convention, Biden said he might reconsider his decision to stay in the race “if I had some pathological condition appears“

On the same day the interview was scheduled to air, Biden tested positive for Covid-19He canceled a scheduled appearance in Las Vegas and returned home to Delaware.

Biden is already the oldest person ever to serve in the White House and will be 86 by the end of his second term. He has old questions his physical and mental health even during the 2020 election.

Those concerns have grown in the 2024 cycle, but they have been strongly disputed by the Biden campaign and White House aides, and the president’s lack of press conferences and interviews may have masked intense scrutiny of his acumen.

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