WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden quit the 2024 presidential race Sunday, ending his drive for re-election after his disastrous debate with Donald Trump raised doubts about his fitness for office and sparked a relentless campaign by the media and several Democratic Party officials to push him out.
Biden’s decision came as he has been isolating at his Delaware beach house after being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, huddling with a shrinking circle of close confidants and family members about his political future. Biden said he would address the nation later this week to provide “detail” about his decision.
The historic announcement, less than four months before the election, upended a campaign that is seen as a fight to save democracy from the threat of fascism.
Biden said he will fulfill the remainder of his term and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take on Trump. His backing made her the immediate favorite to end up with the nomination well before the Democratic National Convention meets in August.
Obvious successor
The Harris campaign, which is already infusing energy and excitement into what had been a lackluster Democratic election effort, breaks barriers. She could well be the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to become president of the United States.
She wasted no time consolidating support and could have a majority of delegates at the convention pledging to back her as early as this Wednesday. She would almost certainly have enough delegates lined up to select her by August 7, the date on which Democrats hold their virtual nomination.
Harris, in a statement, praised Biden’s “selfless and patriotic act” and said she intends to “earn and win” her party’s 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,” she said.
In addition to securing pledges from delegates, Harris must now pick a running mate and lead the conversion of the massive Biden re-election effort to a campaign to elect her.
Biden’s campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President, reflecting her inheritance of his political operation—a sign of the advantage she has in any potential race for the Democratic nomination. Democratic groups, including the Democratic National Committee, also filed paperwork changing the names of their joint fundraising committees to reflect Harris.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the “centrist” who left the Democratic Party earlier this year to become an independent, is considering re-registering as a Democrat to play some type of role at the convention. In comments to the media, he has been going back and forth on the idea of challenging Harris for the nomination.
Widely seen in progressive circles as a renegade who aids Republicans in getting their right-wing policies through Congress, Manchin is seen as having no chance of winning much backing.
Support solidifies
Important Democratic Party groups are lining up to back Harris, though, including the Congressional Black Caucus. Several members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including leaders of “The Squad,” also quickly endorsed her.
Rep. Cori Bush, the Missouri Democrat who has championed Black Lives Matter along with a ceasefire and negotiations to end the Israeli war on Gaza, was one of the first lawmakers to do so.
She reminded readers that African-Americans—especially African-American women like herself—are a key voting bloc whose unity for Biden and Harris four years ago put the duo in the nation’s top two jobs.
“The people’s vote was a vote not only for President Biden, but a vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and her ability to defeat MAGA extremism across the country,” wrote Bush.
“When we say ‘Trust Black women,’ we mean it. Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and it is past time for us to lead our country forward. Kamala Harris is more than ready to lead at this moment,” Bush wrote. “Harris has the vision to carry this legacy forward, defeat Donald Trump, and I unequivocally endorse her.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez predicted, “Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States,” and pledged her support. “Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy. Let’s get to work.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called Harris a “ferocious warrior on the issue of abortion” and said that if she becomes president, “we’re going to get Roe v. Wade back into the law of the land.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly—each from a swing state and mentioned as a possible running mate for Harris—endorsed Harris Sunday evening.
The energy and excitement sparked by Biden’s withdrawal were also reflected financially. The newly-christened Harris campaign took in nearly $50 million. ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform, reported that over $67 million of small-donor contributions were made on Sunday, the biggest single day in its history. It was an abrupt change, as the Biden campaign had seen donations dry up over the last few weeks.
Labor signals support
Many major unions and individual labor leaders also issued endorsements for Harris within hours of Biden’s announcement, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Farm Workers (UFW), the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
The 50,000-member United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000 in Washington state gave its nod to Harris. It was a strong opponent of Biden’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and repeatedly pressed for a ceasefire. It was loud supporter of the Uncommitted movement in the Democratic Primary to protest Biden’s policy.
“We feel Vice President Harris has the ability and the support to win the White House,” grocery store worker and Local 3000 executive board member J’nee DeLancey announced.
“As a union that is majority women, that has a diverse membership of many people of color, and of immigrants, we are very excited to have such a community-rooted and worker-driven candidate to support.”
The nation’s largest union federation, the AFL-CIO, in order to officially endorse, will need to have a meeting of its Executive Council, which it plans to hold soon. Given the moves already made by many of its largest member unions, though, the federation is expected to enthusiastically back Harris.
MAGA resets
Trump and the MAGA Republicans are not happy to be facing Harris rather than Biden. She does better in polls than did Biden and is seen as a more powerful mobilizing force among women and voters of color. Republicans claim they will file legal challenges to block Harris from the ballot in as many states as possible.
An ad from Harris’s 2020 campaign, in which she takes on Trump directly, resurfaced and was going viral on social media Sunday. In it, the former San Francisco prosecutor, California Attorney General, and Democratic senator signals she would be a very aggressive prosecutor against Trump, who is a known and convicted criminal.
In the video, she declares, “I prosecuted sex predators. Trump is one. I shut down for-profit scam colleges. He ran one. I held big banks accountable. He’s owned by them.” She concludes: “I’m not just prepared to take on Trump. I’m prepared to beat him.”
While Trump and his team had made their preference for facing Biden clear, his campaign had nonetheless already been ramping up its attacks on Harris as the pressure on Biden to step down intensified. The misogynist and racist messaging from the GOP is now expected to increase dramatically.
Issues still matter
Though the president is now out of the race and Harris is set to take his place at the top of the ticket, there are still problematic Biden administration policies that hinder the effort to unite the mass anti-MAGA coalition.
Much less popular than his decision to quit the race, for instance, is Biden’s plan to wine and dine Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week. The idea is for Netanyahu to deliver an address to Congress, and he is also expected to now meet with Harris while in Washington.
Ending U.S. government support for the war in Gaza, especially in the form of weapons shipments, remains the top goal of the peace movement. And at least one group campaigning against Biden’s backing of Israel’s bloody war, CodePink, will still come to the Windy City to protest at the Democratic convention.
“Yes, we still plan to be in Chicago to protest the DNC,” CodePink Communications Director Melissa Garriga emailed.
“While Biden has dropped out of the race, there has been no indication from the party they will end the genocide in Gaza, the proxy war in Ukraine, and their insistence on war with China. Like the Republicans, the Democrats are a war party, and we plan on being there to bring our demand for peace and justice.”
Jewish Voice for Peace, a leader in the Gaza ceasefire campaign, said that “Biden’s unwavering support” for Netanyahu “played a significant role in making him unelectable by breaking down the coalition of support that helped him” defeat Trump in 2020.
It said the Democratic nominee, whoever that person may be, “must immediately change course by calling for an arms embargo on the Israeli government.” JVP said the Democratic Party “must start listening to its own base.”
Other organizations signaled their intention to continue sounding the alarm about fascism and to keep the movements they’re a part of focused on the major issues that are at stake in the election and not get lost in a focus only on personalities.
“Today’s announcement doesn’t change our view,” the Communist Party USA declared in a short statement issued Sunday evening after Biden bowed out. “This election is not about the man, woman, or person, but the platform and plan.” The CPUSA said its goal is still “blocking fascism and building the political independence of the working-class democratic majority.”
The AFL-CIO declared: “Candidates may change, but our values don’t. Our fight to create an economy where everyone has a fighting chance and a country where working people not only survive but thrive will never stop. Our solidarity with workers as we organize and bargain for the pay, benefits, and safety we deserve will never waver. And our commitment to defeating Donald Trump and J.D. Vance is as strong as ever.”
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