President Biden ends campaign run, makes way for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid

If elected in November, Harris would be the first female, the first black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected to the office of U.S. President

After weeks of facing growing questions in regards to his age, physical and mental health, President Joe Biden announced Sunday, July 21, 2024, that he was ending his presidential re-election campaign, bringing an abrupt and humbling conclusion to his half-century-long political career and scrambling the race for the White House less than four months before Election Day.

Biden, 81, could not reverse growing sentiment within his party that he was too frail to serve and destined to lose to Donald Trump in November. He backed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee.

“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 in a letter posted on X (formally Twiter). “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”

Biden thanked Harris for “being an extraordinary partner” in his letter and then endorsed her in a subsequent post.

Harris’ newly launched campaign said it has raised $49.6-million in grassroots donations in the less than one day since it was launched.

The Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue processed $67-million in contributions on July 21, 2024 alone, according to an automated tracker. It’s the single best day for the site since online record keeping began in 2020. As word spread of Biden ending his re-election bid, endorsements from all over the country came in for a Harris run at the White House – including from both Bill and Hillary Clinton, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, former President Barak Obama, as well as many others.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is not yet endorsing Harris, saying that he and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will meet with the vice president in person soon.

“Leader Schumer and I are scheduled to meet with Vice President Harris shorty,” Jeffries told reporters Monday, July 22, 2024, afternoon. “I’m excited for that meeting.”

The two top Democrats are part of a shrinking list of lawmakers that have yet to endorse Harris.

“Vice President Kamala Harris has excited the community, she’s excited the House Democratic Caucus and she’s exciting the country,” Jeffries said. “And so I’m looking forward to sitting down with her in short order with Leader Schumer, and we’ll have more to say about the path forward as soon as that meeting concludes.”

Jeffries said the meeting will take place when Schumer returns to Washington, DC — the Senate is back in session on Tuesday, July 23, 2024 — and when they get confirmation from Harris.

During a rousing Republican National Convention (RNC) that ended here in Milwaukee on Friday, July 19, 2024, in which many of the speakers who appeared cited the Presidents’ fitness to run after he clearly appeared weak and mentally flustered during his and former President Trump’s first debate back in June. Many Republican resources and research were all focused on the question of Biden’s health and recent legal troubles of two of his children. However, with President Biden’s announcement that he will not seek re-election, Republicans left scrambling to re-align Trump’s campaign to tackle a much younger candidate, Harris is 59 years old. Harris is also representative of two minority populations (black and South East Asian), a female in an election were many of the issues revolve around women’s rights; and a former state attorney general who has stated she will pursue Trump to the letter of the law.

In a posting on X, Harris responded to the endorsement stating, “On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country.

“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.

“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”