Biden drops out of the 2024 presidential race, endorses Vice President Kamala Harris for nomination

President Biden announced Sunday that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. 

"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 my term," Mr. Biden posted in a statement on social media. 

Mr. Biden said he would address the nation later this week. Mr. Biden is currently at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as he recovers from COVID-19. 

Biden backs Harris for nomination

Shortly after the announcement, he endorsed Harris for the Democratic nomination, although Mr. Biden cannot appoint a nominee himself. A source familiar said Mr. Biden and Harris spoke multiple times earlier Sunday ahead of his announcement. There was an emergency meeting of senior Democratic National Committee members happening Sunday. 

"My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President," Mr. Biden posted on social media. "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 issued a statement on Sunday saying she is "honored to have the President's endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination." 

"Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election," Harris said. "And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead. 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. We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win."

Harris also paid tribue to Mr. Biden, calling his decision to step aside for the 2024 race a "selfless and patriotic act."

Trump reaction

Former President Donald Trump, who was officially nominated by the Republican Party on Thursday night, told CNN after the decision that Mr. Biden is the "worst president by far in the history of our country," but he said that he thought if Harris is the nominee, she would be easier to beat than Mr. Biden.

Trump told CBS News' Robert Costa in a phone conversation that Mr. Biden's decision is a "shock," but also said it is good for the country. Costa said Trump believes Mr. Biden was pressured out of the race, and it is a "total shock to the country to have a president forced out by his own party," Costa said, describing Trump's view of the developments.

But Trump would not commit to debating Harris, telling Costa he is not sure Harris will be the nominee and Trump is waiting to see how the Democratic race shakes out. 

Later Sunday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social that his campaign had been "forced to spend time and money" running against Mr. Biden but "now we have to start all over again." 

"Shouldn't the Republican Party be reimbursed for fraud in that everybody around Joe, including his doctors and the Fake News Media, knew he was not capable of running for, or being, President?" Trump wrote. 

What comes next for Democrats

DNC chair Jaime Harrison said Sunday afternoon that  "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."

"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," Harrison said. 

DNC executive committee member Alan Clendenin of Florida told CBS News on Sunday that he expects a "supermajority" of delegates to coalesce around Harris in the coming days.

"The delegates at the convention are the ones who place our candidate on the ballot," Clendenin said. "If Biden was still on the ticket, that was going to be process."  

Never before has a sitting president and presumptive nominee dropped out of the race so late in the process, and Mr. Biden's decision to do so underscores the severity of the crisis that enveloped his campaign after his disastrous debate performance against Trump.

In the days following the debate, a growing chorus of Democrats openly expressed concern over the president's health and mental state, his ability to defeat Trump in November and his capacity to lead the country for four more years. The pressure to step aside steadily increased as Democratic lawmakers and governors went days without hearing from Mr. Biden directly, allowing questions about his future to swirl within the party ranks. And a growing number of Democrats on Capitol Hill publicly called for him to step aside. 

In the weeks since the debate, the president tried to push back, insisting in a series of public appearances and meetings with Democratic elected officials that he was committed to staying in the race. "I'm not going anywhere," he vowed. But even longtime allies began to urge him to change course.

The pressure eventually became insurmountable, with top Democrats in Congress telling Mr. Biden that he should step aside and allow a replacement to face off against Trump in November.

Mr. Biden is the first sitting president who is eligible for reelection to decline to run again since President Lyndon Johnson stepped aside the spring before the 1968 election. Johnson's vice president, Hubert Humphrey, won the Democratic nomination that year and lost to Richard Nixon. 

Only a handful of first-term presidents in American history have not sought a second term, the last being Rutherford B. Hayes, who declined to run again in the 1880 election. James Buchanan and James Polk also chose not to seek the presidency a second time. Calvin Coolidge, who assumed the presidency in 1923 after the death of Warren Harding, won his own term in 1924 and declined to seek another full term four years later.

Biden family reaction 

Members of Mr. Biden's family publicly reacted Sunday to Mr. Biden's decision, with first lady Jill Biden reposting Mr. Biden's statement on social media with a heart emoji.

His granddaughter Naomi Biden posted shortly after his announcement that she is "nothing but proud of my Pop, our President, Joe Biden, who has served our country with every bit of his soul and with unmatched distinction."

Naomi Biden's father, Mr. Biden's son Hunter, said in statement posted by Naomi on social media that he has always looked at his father with "awe."

"How could he suffer so much heartache and yet give so much of whatever remained of his heart to others?" Hunter said. "Not only in the policies he passed, but in the individual lives he's touched." 

Hunter added "thank you, Mr. President. I love you, Dad."

Mr. Biden's brother, Frank, told ABC News that his brother's decision to step out of the race "boils down" to his "overall health and vitality" but also "beating this genuine threat to our nation in the form of Donald Trump." Frank Biden also told CBS News that "selfishly I will have him back to enjoy whatever time we have left in our lives." 

But a source familiar with the Biden family pushed back against Frank's statement, telling CBS News "Frank Biden suffers from alcoholism and hasn't spoken to his brother, the President, in weeks. What he said about President Biden's health being a factor in his decision is completely untrue."  

A disastrous debate

For months, the Biden campaign and allies reassured the public that the president was up to the rigors of leading the free world, often dismissing questions about his age and fitness even as polls consistently showed Americans had concerns. Mr. Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term. 

But on the night of the debate on June 27, over 50 million Americans watched the president, lacking his teleprompter and without notes, struggle not only to refute Trump, but to articulate his own policies. Mr. Biden, never the most eloquent speaker, repeatedly lost his train of thought and confused his answers, at one point saying his administration "beat Medicare." 

The flubs baffled members of his own party, many of whom soon recognized the political peril of having Mr. Biden at the top of the ticket if the overwhelming majority of voters considered him not fit to serve. 

Before winning the White House in 2020, Mr. Biden called himself a "bridge" to a new "generation of leaders," causing many to wonder if he would only serve one term. In the aftermath of the debate, he explained that his thinking had changed, and the divisiveness in the country led him to believe only he could defeat Trump.

After days of his campaign and other allies trying to contain the fallout, the dam had broken, and the president faced pressure from a growing number of Democrats on Capitol Hill to step aside and let a new nominee step up to the plate. He resisted that pressure for more than a week, defiantly and publicly stating that he would not drop his reelection bid. But he continued to misspeak in interviews and speeches, doing little to allay concerns about his ability to win in November.

Calls for him to step aside died down in the aftermath of the failed assassination attempt of Trump on July 13. But behind the scenes, Democratic leaders in Congress were reportedly urging him to make his exit, and polls showed large majorities of Democratic voters saying they preferred a different nominee. News of that private pressure campaign began to break on July 17, coinciding with a call from powerful Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff for Mr. Biden to drop out.

The Democratic National Committee also pushed back a virtual vote that would have cemented Mr. Biden's status as the nominee, saying on July 17 that plans for a quick resolution would be pushed back until August. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries were said to have encouraged the party's rules committee to delay the vote.

What happens next?

States have already held their primaries, meaning Democratic voters have no time or mechanism to pick a replacement directly. At this point in the process, it's up to Democratic delegates — state and local party officials who were selected during the primaries — to decide who will replace Mr. Biden at the top of the ticket, either at August's Democratic National Convention in Chicago or beforehand. However it ultimately happens will be a logistical nightmare for Democrats in the weeks ahead. 

The convention is scheduled to begin Aug. 19 in Chicago. 

The party affirmed Friday it would hold a virtual roll call between Aug. 1-7 to formally select a nominee to ensure access to the ballot in Ohio. amid a dispute about the state's ballot certification deadline. Whether that happens now that Mr. Biden has dropped out remains to be seen.

–Ed O'Keefe and Aaron Navarro contributed to this report.

In:
• Joe Biden
• Kamala Harris
• Democratic Party
• Democratic National Convention

Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.