President Joe Biden announced on Sunday in a letter addressed to the nation that he will not seek reelection in November and is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee.
He plans to serve out the remainder of his term through Jan. 20 of next year.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," he wrote. "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."
The remarkable move comes after weeks of questions about his age and ability to lead Democrats to victory against former President Donald Trump in the general election.
Shortly after sharing letter to the country, he offered his full-throated endorsement to Harris:
"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."
Harris in turn praised the president in a statement, saying his "remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many Presidents who have served two terms in office." She called his decision to step aside a "selfless and patriotic act."
She also wrote of first getting to know Biden through his son Beau when they were both serving as attorneys general of their respective states.
"As we worked together, Beau would tell me stories about his Dad. The kind of father—and the kind of man—he was," Harris said. "And the qualities Beau revered in his father are the same qualities, the same values, I have seen every single day in Joe’s leadership as President: His honesty and integrity. His big heart and commitment to his faith and his family. And his love of our country and the American people."
Harris accepted Biden's endorsement and said she "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."
“We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win,” she added.
The announcement spurred a surge in donations, potentially signaling an energized Democratic electorate. ActBlue, the Democrats' fundraising platform, announced $27.5 million in small-dollar donations in the five hours since Harris launched her presidential campaign on Sunday.
The Biden campaign quickly made it official later Sunday, filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to change the name of the Biden for President campaign to Harris for President, giving the vice president access to the campaign's multi-million-dollar war chest.
"This letter is to inform you that Vice President Harris is no longer a candidate in the 2024 election for Vice President," a filing with the FEC reads. "Vice President Harris is now a candidate for United States President in the 2024 election and will henceforth be conducting campaign activities only in pursuit of that office. This committee's Statement of Organization and the Statement of Candidacy are being amended accordingly."
Biden is the first sitting president to decline to run reelection since Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1968, though Johnson made his decision in March of that year, well ahead of the election.
While Biden offered Harris his endorsement, that doesn't make her the official nominee just yet: The Democratic Party will have to choose a new nominee with their convention set for Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.
Biden promised in the letter to address the country “later this week in more detail about my decision.”
In the letter, Biden boasted of building the "strongest economy in the world" and making "historic investments in rebuilding our nation, in lower prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans." He also mentioned his administration's work on providing health care to veterans exposed to toxic substances, passing the first major piece of gun safety legislation in decades, passing major climate legislation and appointing Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first African American woman on the Supreme Court.
"America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today. I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people," Biden 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."
"I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can't do — when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America," he concluded.
Trump responded in a post to his social media network Truth Social, saying that Biden “was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve - And never was!”
“All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t,” Trump wrote. “We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump also told CNN he believes Harris will be easier to beat than Biden. His campaign announced an ad they said would begin airing “ASAP” in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona claiming Harris “covered up Joe’s obvious mental decline” and blaming the vice president for the flow of migrants over the U.S.-Mexico border and inflation. Both the number of border crossings and the rate of inflation have slowed in recent months.
In subsequent social media posts later Sunday, Trump attempted to cast doubts on Biden's COVID-19 diagnosis, baselessly charging the Democrat used it as cover to exit the race, sought to try and move September's scheduled presidential debate from ABC News to the much friendlier Fox News, and said the Republican Party should be "reimbursed for fraud" after being "forced to spend time and money on fighting Crooked Joe Biden."
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., polling in a distant third, addressed the media from the Kennedy family compound in Massachusetts Sunday evening, commending Biden for his decision to step aside while calling Harris the "choice of the Democratic elites."
Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, wrote on social media that Biden was "the worst President in my lifetime and Kamala Harris has been tright there with him every step of the way."
"Over the last four years she co-signed Biden's open border and green scam policies that drove up the cost of housing and groceries. She owns all of these failures, and she lied for nearly four years about Biden's mental capacity--saddling the nation with a president who can't do the job," Vance wrote. "President Trump and I are ready to save America, whoever's at the top of the Democrat ticket. Bring it on."
Other Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, called on Biden to resign from the presidency.
“At this unprecedented juncture in American history, we must be clear about what just happened. The Democrat Party forced the Democrat nominee off the ballot, just over 100 days before the election,” Johnson said in a statement. “If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”
In an earlier appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Johnson raised the specter of “legal hurdles” preventing Democrats from swapping out their party’s nominee in some states, but it was unclear what those might be.
Biden’s decision to drop out comes after weeks of speculation and outcry by Democrats in response to a disastrous June debate performance and a flurry of stories that depicted the president as hindered by age. Over 30 House members and four Democratic senators had publicly called on him to step aside by the time he announced his decision on Sunday.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has been holed up in his Rehoboth Beach, Del., home since Thursday, forced off the campaign trail after testing positive for COVID-19.
"Joe Biden has not only been a great president and a great legislative leader but he is a truly amazing human being. His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Joe, today shows you are a true patriot and great American.”
Schumer and Biden spoke on Sunday, a source familiar confirmed to Spectrum News.
Schumer, as well as Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, never publicly called on Biden to relinquish his candidacy, though they were reportedly pushing the president to make this decision behind the scenes in recent weeks, according to multiple media reports.
"President Joe Biden is a patriotic American who has always put our country first. His legacy of vision, values and leadership make him one of the most consequential Presidents in American history," Pelosi wrote in a statement. "With love and gratitude to President Biden for always believing in the promise of America and giving people the opportunity to reach their fulfillment."
House Democrats leader Hakeem Jeffries praised Biden in a statement as “one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history.” While some prominent congressional Democrats quickly endorsed Harris, neither Jeffries nor Schumer immediately offered up their support for the vice president.
Speaking exclusively to Spectrum News NY1 on Sunday, Jeffries said he had a "private conversation" with Biden earlier in the day, but did not detail what they discussed.
"He is a tremendous patriot, a tremendous president who's done an amazing job on our behalf over the last three-and-a-half years," Jeffries said. "America is better off today because of the incredible leadership of President Joe Biden."
He did not answer a shouted question from Spectrum News' Kelly Mena about if he supports Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Pelosi also did not state her preference.
In a lengthy statement, former President Barack Obama went into detailed praise for his former vice president, both for his character and his policy accomplishments.
"Sixteen years ago, when I began my search for a vice president, I knew about Joe’s remarkable career in public service. But what I came to admire even more was his character — his deep empathy and hard-earned resilience; his fundamental decency and belief that everyone counts," Obama wrote. "Joe understands better than anyone the stakes in this election — how everything he has fought for throughout his life, and everything that the Democratic Party stands for, will be at risk if we allow Donald Trump back in the White House and give Republicans control of Congress."
"I also know Joe has never backed down from a fight. For him to look at the political landscape and decide that he should pass the torch to a new nominee is surely one of the toughest in his life. But I know he wouldn’t make this decision unless he believed it was right for America," he continued.
Obama did not endorse Harris, writing that the party "will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead," but expressed "extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did join Biden in endorsing Harris in a joint statement, pledging to do “whatever we can to support her.”
“Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we’ve got to elect her. America’s future depends on it,” the Clintons wrote.
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement that “Democrats are prepared and united in our resolve to win in November” and that the party would provide details on the next steps of the nomination process “in short order.”
“The work that we must do now, while unprecedented, is clear. In the coming days, the Party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November,” Harrison said. “This process will be governed by established rules and procedures of the Party. Our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility in swiftly delivering a candidate to the American people.”
Two high-ranking officials helping run efforts to reelect Biden, campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon and Campaign Manager and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, held a call on Sunday with all campaign staff in which they emphasized everyone on the team is still emploayed and they are moving ahead fully behind Harris, a source familiar with the call told Spectrum News.
O’Malley Dillion told staff that the campaign is organized to defeat Trump and that effort will now be coalesced behind the vice president.
“All of you, all of us, wherever we come from, are here for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and to defeat Donald Trump,” O’Malley Dillion told campaign staff, according to the source familiar. “And while today is a big day of transition, nothing changes with why you got here and what we're all here to do. But the path forward is a path that is for all of us to do this together.”
First lady Jill Biden also played a key role in his decision to end his campaign.
"Down to the last hours of the decision only he could make, she was supportive of whatever road he chose," Elizabeth Alexander, Dr. Biden's communications director, said in a statement to Spectrum News. "She’s his biggest believer, champion, and always on his side, in that trusted way only a spouse of almost 50 years can be."
Spectrum News' Maddie Gannon and Kevin Frey contributed to this report.