“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,” Biden said.
President Joe Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democrats’ nomination for the November election.Credit: AP
“Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat [Republican candidate Donald] Trump. Let’s do this.”
Harris later put out a statement saying she was honoured to have the president’s endorsement, while noting: “my intention is to earn and win this nomination”.
“Over the past year, I have travelled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead,” Harris said, adding that she would do everything in her power to unite her party and the nation.
“We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”
Harris said Biden’s decision to pull out of the White House race was a “selfless and patriotic act”.
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The timing of the announcement – coming at 1.46pm on a Sunday afternoon in Washington – took the world by surprise, particularly as Biden had appeared determined to dig in and had said only on Saturday that he would return to the campaign trail this week.
His defiance came despite almost 40 congressional Democrats calling for him to stand down since his disastrous debate with Trump, and stalwarts such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately warning him that he could not only lose the White House but also control of the US Congress unless he withdrew.
Of particular concern was the fact that donations were starting to slow amid growing concerns about Biden’s mental acuity, which would have made it even harder for the party to campaign against Trump and his chosen running mate, J.D. Vance.
“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve – And never was!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Biden secured enough delegates in mid-March, clinching the Democratic nomination without any serious challengers, largely because he was the incumbent – and despite persistent concerns about his age.
At 81, Biden is already America’s oldest president and would be 86 by the end of a second term. However, a nightmare performance in the first presidential debate in late June led to growing defections in his ranks, with the Democratic caucus splitting on whether he should step aside.
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Trump is 78 but has returned to the campaign trail this weekend with a party galvanised by his near-death experience and the Democrats in disarray over their leadership.
The president embarked on a number of campaign rallies and conducted a prime-time television interview in which he fought off suggestions he was too old for the job. But a rare, high-stakes, solo press conference at the conclusion of the NATO summit in Washington did little to convince his doubters he still had the mental and physical ability to win the election.
While it was not a repeat of the train wreck of a performance from his first debate, Biden gave a series of shaky answers and among several gaffes referred to Kamala Harris as “vice president Trump” during the press conference, which lasted over an hour.
In a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, Harris and Trump were tied with 44 per cent support each in a July 15-16 Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted immediately after the assassination attempt against Trump.
Trump led Biden 43 per cent to 41 per cent in that same poll, though the 2 percentage point difference was within the poll’s 3 percentage point margin of error.
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