President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on Sunday, marking a humiliating finale to his more than five-decade political career in Washington, D.C.
Biden, 81, faced pressure from within his party to withdraw from the race following a disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month. Dozens of congressional Democrats had publicly called on Biden to withdraw in the ensuing weeks. Additional reports following the debate revealed how top Democrats were making plans to undercut the President and pressure him to withdraw.
“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 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.
The President endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party’s presidential nominee.
Biden served in the Senate from 1973 to 2009, when he became President Barack Obama’s vice president. He ran for President in 2020 and defeated Trump.
His polling performance dropped after the debate last month and continued to decline following last weekend’s attempted assassination of Trump. The RealClearPolitics average showed Trump leading by 3 percentage points as of Sunday afternoon.
In his announcement speech, the President touted his record:
“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.”
The Biden administration was plagued by crippling inflation rates that peaked at 9% and have since fallen to 3%. Illegal immigration caused additional concerns, with more than 10 million encounters at the southern border under Biden. The administration oversaw the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars.