It’s really happening. President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he is dropping his reelection bid, just one month before the Democratic National Convention is set to begin.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said in a letter posted to Twitter. “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.”
In a follow-up post, the president offered his “full support and endorsement” for Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee. Biden said he’d speak more on his decision later in the week.
The stunning turn of events leaves the Democratic Party in uncharted waters as fall election season rapidly approaches. But it arguably does the same for Donald Trump’s campaign, which has built its messaging around Biden’s underwater poll numbers and the public perception that the president is unfit for the job.
Biden’s exit scrambles everything. Frightening though that may be, it’s also thrilling. Facing up to the reality of the polls — and the unfortunate reality of the president’s decline — demonstrates a responsiveness to public opinion and willingness to take necessary risks that’s often been missing from the go-along-to-get-along attitude among establishment Democrats. Whether the new nominee will be Harris or someone else, for the first time in weeks (if not months) it feels like Dems might have a fighting chance headed into November. Might.
Senior Democrats hailed Biden’s decision as heroic. Bill and Hillary Clinton said in a Twitter post that Biden’s presidency had “lifted America out of an unprecedented pandemic, created millions of new jobs, rebuilt a battered economy, strengthened our democracy, and restored our standing in the world. And they urged support for Kamala Harris:
Arkansas’s top Republican officials had no such kind words. Gov. Sarah Sanders called for Biden to resign immediately. U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton complained that a “coup” staged by Democratic insiders had pushed Biden out, over the will of primary voters. Will that narrative have legs? Seems hard to swallow. But with a development this monumental, all bets are off.