Joe Biden Endorses Kamala Harris as the 2024 Democratic Nominee for President

President Joe Biden is no longer running for reelection in 2024. Instead, he’s throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden has been facing mounting pressure to call off his presidential campaign since last month’s debate against former president Donald Trump. Nearly a month after the highly-criticized performance, the 81-year-old sitting president announced his plan to “stand down” in a statement posted to X.com on July 21.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President, and while 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 focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden told the American people.

Though he promised to provide more “details” about his decision “later this week,” President Biden quickly followed up his post with an endorsement of Vice President Harris.

“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,” Biden wrote. “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.”

As Biden’s endorsement post points out, the president was not technically the official democratic nominee yet. However, he was scheduled to be confirmed by select delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19. Instead, those delegates will now vote for a new pick, with some other possible candidates including California’s Gavin Newsom, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, and Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro.

As a sitting member of the Biden Aministration, VP Kamala Harris is the candidate with the easiest claim to President Biden’s $91 million campaign “war chest,” according to Axios.

In his initial announcement, President Joe Biden praised Vice President Kamala Harris or “being an extraordinary partner” throughout his presidency and extended his “heartfelt appreciation” to the American people for their “faith and trust.”

“Over the past three and a half years, we’ve made great progress as a nation,” Biden wrote, in part. “Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve protected and preserved our democracy. And we’ve revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world.”