President Joe Biden released a statement on the social media platforms X and Instagram stating that he would be dropping out of the 2024 presidential race effective immediately, on the morning of July 21st.
The news comes after weeks of pressure from several government officials close to the sitting president, such as representatives Nancy Pelosi and Hakeem Jeffries. Key reasons behind the decision to step down have been his considerable age, now 81 years old, and general public opinion, with his approval ratings dipping to some of the lowest they’ve ever been at 37% in June. Age has been a key topic surrounding this election, with the Republican candidate, former president Donald Trump, only being 3 years younger.
In his statement, President Biden highlighted several of his achievements such as, “[We] appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court … together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” He continued on to say that he has been honored to serve as president but will be dropping out of the race.
The Democratic party will have to nominate a new democratic candidate which has not occurred since 1996 when Lyndon B. Johnson dropped out of the presidential race after receiving the party nomination. This next candidate will most likely be announced at the Democratic National Convention coming up this August.
In a follow up posted this afternoon to social media platform X, President Biden endorsed his current vice president, Kamala Harris. He closed off his post stating, “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee for our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.” While this endorsement will carry a lot of weight, vice president Harris will still have to receive enough votes from the Democratic party to be the next presidential nominee.
This is a developing story, more information to come.