President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he will end his presidential re-election campaign, bringing an abrupt and humbling conclusion to his half-century-long political career and scrambling the race for the White House just four months before Election Day.
Biden, 81, could not reverse growing sentiment within his party that he was too frail to serve and destined to lose to Donald Trump in November. He backed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee, days after the completion of a Republican National Convention where speaker after speaker slammed the Biden-Harris ticket.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was one of the Republicans calling on Biden to resign, writing in a post, “If you can’t run a mere political campaign, you can’t be President.”
In a fundraising email, Trump’s campaign said that Biden “quit the race in complete disgrace.”
In a brief phone interview with NBC News, Trump reacted to Biden’s decision, calling the president “the worst president in the history of the United States by far.” When asked whether he was surprised by Biden’s decision, Trump said that Biden “should never have been there in the first place.” He added, “He should have stayed in his basement.”
Biden’s decision to exit the race less than a month before his party’s convention and a few months before voters head to the polls is unprecedented in the modern political era. The last sitting president to abandon a re-election bid was Lyndon Johnson, whose expansion of the Vietnam War in the 1960s split the Democratic Party. But Johnson’s announcement came in March 1968 — eight months before that election.
“We’re in uncharted waters,” said Barbara Perry, a presidential studies professor at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “No president has dropped out or died this close to the convention.”
Replacing Biden atop the Democratic ticket is likely to set off internal Democratic tremors as ambitious officials maneuver to become his successor. Factions have already formed around Harris and prominent governors, including Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and California’s Gavin Newsom.
Harris would seem to be the heir apparent. She broke a barrier as the first female vice president. A woman of color, she enjoys strong support among African Americans, a loyal piece of the Democratic coalition. Overall, though, Harris’ approval rating stood at only 32% in an NBC News poll released earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign has gained momentum. On July 13, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman’s bullet grazed his ear. Trump dropped to the ground in self-defense, then rose and defiantly pumped his fist, yelling “Fight!”
Another fortuitous development came two days later, coinciding with the opening of the Republican convention in Milwaukee that certified Trump’s nomination. Federal Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida dismissed a case alleging that Trump improperly retained classified documents after leaving the White House. Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was illegal. Smith quickly appealed her ruling.
This series of events has energized the Republican base, presenting a unified front at the convention. In contrast, Biden’s primary campaign was mostly a coronation. He faced token opposition as party leaders cleared the field, betting that having beaten Trump once before, Biden was best positioned to do it again. But poll after poll confirmed that voters harbored doubts about him, believing he was too old and infirm to serve another term.
An AP-NORC survey released July 17 found that a whopping 65% of Democrats believed Biden should exit the race.
Pressed by his voters and abandoned by party leaders, Biden gave in.