President Joe Biden just announced he was ended his candidacy for the 2024 campaign. He thanked Kamala Harris for being a good partner and endorsed her.
Here’s his statement to the American people:
My Fellow Americans,
Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation.
Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We’ve made historic investments in rebuilding our Nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. We’ve provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years. Appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. And passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world. America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today.
I know none of this could have done without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve protected and preserved our Democracy. And we’ve revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world.
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.
I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.
For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected.I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me.
I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America.
Joe Biden
Less than 30 minutes after announcing he would end his campaign, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket.
My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My 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. Let’s do this.
Biden’s announcement was way overdue, leaving the Dems in a pickle.
Too many people are sick and tired of not being given a voice in selecting
their candidates. I suspect that, if Harris is the nominee, she will lose to
Trump.
Maybe Pelosi can mastermind some sort of selection process at the convention. Otherwise….
You’re on your own boat here. Do you vote in primaries? If so, didn’t you help in selecting your candidates? So WTF are you talking about?
Several states canceled their primaries.
“On my own boat”…what does that mean?
I always vote in primaries. The Dems coalesced around Biden in 2020 after he was plucked from a failing run for president – James Clyburn did this.
Now the Dems are doing it again with Harris, who has very low polling numbers and has not distinguished herself in office (in my opinion, at least)- whatever happened to voters having a
choice?
I can think of several others I might have some enthusiasm for – Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Rep. Amy Klobuchar, Gov. Gretchen Newsom, etc.
If I were a delegate to the convention in Chicago, I would be pretty upset.
Referring to your quote: “Too many people are sick and tired of not being given a voice in selecting their candidates.”
How do you square that statement with “I always vote in primaries”?
You’re insinuating that somehow the electoral system is rigged — which sounds a lot like someone else we know. Maybe you don’t mean that.
Do you mean a Biden delegate, even after he endorsed Harris? Many state delegate groups are starting to vote to be Harris delegates.
Actually I think what Tessa may be referring to is something RFK, Jr. also referred to when he began his own run. What I recall him saying is that the heads of the Democrat Party had basically decreed that Joe Biden would be the nominee and were doing things in their power to exclude any competition (e.g., shut down any official party recognition, come up with excuses and ways to exclude you, tell others that they deal with you at their peril, etc etc). He commented that this reminded him of something that occurs in China, Russia and the like where the State tells you who you can vote for, and he predicted this was a big mistake, and he eventually left the Party so that he could compete. Looks like he was right about it being a mistake. I believe I also remember one of the persons being considered as a Harris V.P. being interviewed on Fox, and I and the interviewer thought he was quite good and the interviewer commended him and asked why didn’t he run. He said that basically the DNC had determined that Biden would be the nominee and that was that—that’s almost a direct quote. I was sort of shocked he was so blunt—shouldn’t the Democrat electorate decide that and not the DNC? What I am saying is that political leadership of a Party has all sorts of ways they can make it extremely difficult for competition to take place. While the process may not be fixed or rigged as we think of the term, it can lead to voters thinking that it has been effectively “fixed”, and lead to bad feelings and big mistakes.
/s/ Chris Kennedy
Was this in reference to RFK? “he eventually left the Party so that he could compete?”
It’s to RFK, Jr., not his father. He tried running as a Democrat this time around, then left to run as an Independent after he was basically shut out of the primaries by the Democrat Party establishment who determined basically from the start that Joe Biden would be the candidate. That’s what he says happened, and it certainly appeared that way to me. Interesting man.
/s/ Chris Kennedy
Ah, I see. Maybe he was shut out by the Democrats because he is a certifiable nut case.
He was also shut out because of his anti-vaxing and other fringe views!!!!!!!!!
Well, perhaps, but shouldn’t that be a decision by the Democrat electorate and not the DNC?
/s/ Chris Kennedy
I would probably agree.
Are you by chance going to that OBPB Transportation committee meeting?
Affirmative.
Thank you for getting my point.
One reason Biden was selected was to shut out Sanders.
Two holdouts from the pile of senators, congressmen/women, and governors now supporting Harris are Schumer and Jeffries from New York. As the current leaders of the Senate and House, they hold powerful positions I called Senator Schumer’s office this afternoon, and the woman answering the phone thanked me very much for taking the time to call. She wanted to hear my opinion and obviously was adding up who was calling about the upcoming convention, nomination, etc.
Why not let Trump run in the Democratic primaries, then? It’s a no-brainer that a political party has the right to determine who runs in the primaries it holds.
I read that from a choice of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and Michelle Obama: 86% of the people selected Michelle Obama as a Presidential Candidate they would vote for. Yes, you can attack the numbers; it was just a random Internet article.