After weeks of mounting pressure from mainstream media, fellow Democrats and donors following a weak debate performance against former President Trump, President Joe Biden announced today that he will “not accept the nomination” as Democratic candidate for the upcoming presidential election in November. Instead, he encouraged his party to rally behind his Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee to run for the presidency.
“Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation,” Biden wrote in a letter posted on social media platform X.
“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.”
After listing various other accomplishments, Biden said “America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today.”
However, he then admitted that he came to the conclusion that it was time to bring his reelection campaign to a halt, so that someone else could take the lead.
“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.”
He said he would provide more details in an address to the nation “later this week”.
In a follow up post, he then endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee for the Democratic party.
“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,” he wrote.
In the days and weeks following the presidential debate between Biden and Trump, an ever-increasing chorus of Democratic lawmakers, commentators, op-eds, editorials, and donors privately and publicly raised concerns about Biden's poor performance that brought a spotlight on his advanced age.
Polls suggested that a majority of voters preferred for Biden to step aside and allow someone younger to take the lead at the top of the Democratic ticket. After initially resisting calls, Biden now finally made a way for a new nominee to be chosen, albeit at a very late stage in the election process.
While Harris is considered best positioned to take Biden’s place, especially given his endorsement, the decision of who will replace Biden as the Democrats’ nominee will ultimately be decided by the pledged delegates, latest at the Democratic National Convention that will be held in Chicago, IL on August 19-22.
Latest development amid a highly polarized presidential election
Biden’s announcement comes as the latest twist in a highly polarized election season. Just over a week ago, an assassination attempt on former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump triggered calls for toning down the sometimes extreme and violent language on both sides.
In an op-ed titled “Please, please, please, we must all tone things down”, Dr. Michael Brown, author and host of the nationally syndicated The Line of Fire radio show, called on Christians to reflect on the impact of their words.
“As we all sit here stunned watching the footage of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, it really is a time for reflection. Are we contributing to this atmosphere of hatred and violence? What kind of emotions do we stir up with the words we speak and the memes we post? What are we fomenting? To what end?”
“But all of us are responsible for the words we speak, for the posts we share, for the memes we create, for the environments we shape. And all of us would do well to look in the mirror and ask ourselves some honest questions: Am I fostering godly conviction or breeding vile hatred? Am I helping to produce courage and fortitude or do my words lead to hostility and disdain?
“Let us then be disseminators of light not darkness, agents of God rather than servants of Satan, calling for courage and conviction around righteous causes but with civility toward our political and ideological adversaries. Otherwise, all of us lose.”
