Joe Biden drops out of presidential race
President Biden has just announced that he will no longer 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,” he said Sunday afternoon in a post on X.
Biden’s announcement comes as a mounting chorus of Democrats have called for him to step aside following a disastrous debate against Republican rival Donald Trump.
The Guardian will provide breaking updates as we learn more about Biden’s decision.
This is a developing story.
Updated
White House: Biden's Covid-19 symptoms have 'improved significantly'
Joe Biden is continuing to recover from Covid-19, the president’s doctor said on Sunday.
Kevin O’Connor said that Biden had taken his eighth dose of Pavloxid, an anti-viral medication used in Covid-19 treatment, this morning and that “his symptoms have improved significantly.”
“His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal,” O’Connor said in a letter. “His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.”
“The President continues to tolerate treatment without any difficulty and will continue Pavloxid as planned. He continues to perform all of his presidential duties.”
Biden’s positive prognosis comes amid mounting concerns about whether he can campaign effectively – and be up to the challenge of a second term in office.
Indeed, Biden had to call off campaign events after testing positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. Biden, who was on the trail in Nevada, had to cancel an address to UnidosUS’s annual conference. UnidosUS is a Latino civil-rights organization.
Biden, whom the White House said had mild symptoms, returned to his Delaware home and has since self-isolated.
On Friday, Biden insisted that he would resume campaigning in the coming days –doubling down on his insistence that he would remain in the race.
“I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision that I have for America: one where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for everyone,” he said.
Updated
House speaker Mike Johnson predicts legal challenges if Biden leaves race
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said there could be legal challenges in some states if Joe Biden left the Democratic ticket for president – further raising the stakes in a race where polls increasingly favor Donald Trump.
On CNN’s State of the Union this Sunday, Johnson told host Jake Tapper that Democrats have “real problems”.
“I mean, every state has their own election system. That’s our constitutional system,” Johnson commented. “That’s the way it’s done. And in some of these states, it’s a real hurdle.”
“Joe Biden was chosen after a long, small-d democratic process by 14 million people emerging through that primary,” he also said. “It will be very interesting to see if the so-called party of democracy, the Democrats, go into a backroom somewhere and switch it out and put someone else at the top of the ticket.”
Biden is facing a growing chorus of Democrats and party donors who are calling for him to leave the race as questions mount about his political viability – and ability to serve a second term.
It’s important to point out that Republican leadership isn’t the only camp floating possible legal issues if Biden dropped out. In an Instagram live video on Thursday, New York Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that Republicans might try thwarting election results should someone replace Biden.
Ocasio-Cortez warned the result could be “a presidential election being decided by Clarence Thomas and the supreme court”. The ultra-conservative court has repeatedly ruled in favor of rightwing positions and Trump – granting the former president broad immunity in a criminal case against him.
Updated
Joe Biden’s campaign leaders appear to be struggling in their efforts to quell top Democratic donors’ concerns about his candidacy.
In a striking example, one prominent donor described a Friday conference call with Kamala Harris as “ludicrous”, NBC News’s Yamiche Alcindor reported.
The call, which was joined by some 300 donors, was reportedly described as “mismanaged” as well as “rushed” by another donor.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, who chairs the Democratic candidate’s campaign, organized the call, which included donors ranging from dogged Biden supporters to extreme skeptics. Biden’s campaign advisers asked the vice-president to be on the call, the report said.
“We know which candidate in this election puts the American people first: our president, Joe Biden,” Harris reportedly told donors. “With every decision he makes in the Oval Office, he thinks about how it will impact working Americans. And I witness it every day.”
She also insisted that Biden could best Donald Trump in the election. “Something I believe in my heart of hearts,” Harris said, per Alcindor’s report late Saturday. “It is something I feel strongly you should all hear and should take with you when you leave. And tell your friends too. We are going to win this election. We are going to win.”
Donors’ criticism of the call seems to involve supporters instructing them how to act. While waiting for Harris to get on the line, they were “admonished” against publicly going against Biden, the report said.
“Please help us turn down the volume on this conversation publicly,” Melissa Morales, who heads Somos Votantes, reportedly said on the call. “It’s time to stop the leaks and the rampant rumors. Your message has been heard and received. But every day that we continue this publicly chaotic conversation, we come closer to a loss – no matter who the nominee is.”
A source told Alcindor that irked some call participants. “These are donors who are not used to getting admonished and told what to do,” this source reportedly said.
Updated
As questions continue to swirl around Biden’s presidential campaign, he promised to continue protecting the US Constitution and called for calm.
In a post on X this morning, Biden wrote:
“I’ll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, and call for action at the ballot box, not violence on our streets. That’s how democracy should work.”
While Biden’s call for peace isn’t in a vacuum – his political rival survived an apparent assassination attempt last week – these words will do little to quell speculation about whether he’s staying in the presidential race. Biden is promising to protect American democracy but not expressly saying he will do so as a candidate in this missive.
Updated
Senator Joe Manchin tells Biden to drop out of campaign
Senator Joe Manchin on Sunday pressed President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race, saying on CNN’s State of the Union: “I came to the decision with a heavy heart [and] I think it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation.”
Manchin’s comment comes as some three dozen Congressional Democrats who have pushed for Biden to step aside in the wake of his disastrous debate performance – which spurred questions about his ability to trounce Donald Trump.
“I’m concerned about the president’s health and well-being I really am,” Manchin commented on ABC’s “This Week.” Manchin, who was a Democrat, is now an independent.
Four Democratic Senators also want Biden to leave the race. They include Vermont’s Peter Welch, Montana’s Jon Tester, New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich, and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown.
Biden has remained defiant amid calls for his departure from the race.
Updated
Sunday politics blog
Good morning on this fine Sunday and welcome to The Guardian US’s live politics blog.
The 2024 election continues to dominate the news, with one big question looming: Will President Joe Biden remain in the race?
Biden has vowed not to drop out despite multiple high-powered Democrats and prominent donors’ calls for him to step aside, following a disastrous debate performance against Republican rival Donald Trump more than two weeks ago.
Biden, who claimed to have had a cold during this highly awaited showdown, stumbled in his delivery of what otherwise would have been cogent responses. Biden’s quiet voice, in conjunction with mumbling and lackluster energy, prompted renewed questions about whether he had the physical and mental fortitude for another term.
While Biden sat down for several interviews following the debate, they did little to quell these concerns, as he repeatedly doubled down on his candidacy rather than create confidence in his political viability. Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he’d need to hear from the “Lord Almighty” to drop out of his campaign.
Biden said to Complex’s Chris “Speedy” Morman that he was “1,000%” sticking in the race, “unless I get hit by a train.” And he told BET’s Ed Gordon that a “medical condition” would be the only thing to prompt his departure.
Biden did claim during a watershed news conference that he would leave the race if adviserts said “there’s no way you can win” but insisted: “No one is saying that. No poll says that.”
But Biden, who if elected again would be 86 at the end of his second term, faces close polls in key battleground states. And Trump, who last week survived an apparent assassination attempt, has cast himself as a physical foil to Biden – playing up his vigor and defiance.
Stay tuned to the blog for up-to-the-minute developments in today’s politics news.
Updated
