Posted by on July 21, 2024 1:57 pm
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Categories: Politics

Update, 4:30pmEDT, via ThreadReaderApp:

On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country.

I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.
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. If you’re with me, add a donation right now.

– Kamala Harris

Update, 2:30pmEDT, via Deadline:

President Joe Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to serve as the new Democratic presidential nominee.

“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” he wrote on X/Twitter, shortly after he announced he was withdrawing from the race.

“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.”

7/21/24 1:45pmEDT:

Guardian:

Joe Biden has withdrawn from the race for the US presidency, an extraordinary decision that plunges the Democratic nomination into uncertainty just months before the November election against Donald Trump, a candidate he has warned is an existential threat to American democracy.

The president made the shocking announcement after a weeks-long pressure campaign by Democratic leaders, organizers and donors who increasingly saw no path to victory so long as the embattled incumbent remained on the ticket. A disastrous debate performance last month, and his uneven public appearances since, have only exacerbated longstanding voter concerns that the 81-year-old president was simply too old to serve another four years.

Biden’s decision to step aside from the race, though remain as president, caps a singular few weeks in American politics, the latest stunning episode in an unusually tumultuous election season. Trump, the former president and Republican nominee, narrowly survived an attempt on his life during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania that bloodied his ear and left one spectator dead. Biden, after appealing for calm in the wake of attack, had returned to the campaign trail last week determined to salvage his candidacy and once again prove his doubters wrong.

DEVELOPING – stay tuned!