President Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race Sunday, ending his reelection bid and leaving open the Democratic nomination less than a month before the party’s convention in August.
The announcement came several weeks after Mr. Biden’s fumbling performance in the debate against former President Donald Trump, his Republican challenger, fueled concerns about his fitness to serve another term in Washington. They were made worse by the president’s recent COVID-19 diagnosis, which pulled Mr. Biden off of the campaign trail to isolate at his home in Delaware, and coincided with a growing number of lawmakers — including some Democrats — calling for him to step aside.
Mr. Biden and his campaign leaders had pushed back against those calls and insisted that he was steadfast in his choice to stay in the race. But, in a letter addressing the American public and shared on social media Sunday afternoon, the president confirmed that he had removed himself from contention.
“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,” said Mr. Biden in the letter, which began by citing some of the achievements of his administration during the current term.
“I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people,” he wrote. “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.”
The president said that he would provide more details about the decision to withdraw in a speech later this week.
Read Mr. Biden’s full letter here: