By: Isabella Liu
President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential election race on July 21st, 2024, ending his campaign for re-election. This astonishing decision occurred less than four months before the 2024 election after a catastrophic presidential debate with Donald Trump. Biden could not halt the growing sentiment in the Democratic party that he was too old and frail to serve, and was sure to lose to Trump in November.
Joe Biden begun his political career at the age of 27. He started at the New Castle County counsel in Delaware and stayed there for 2 years before joining the U.S. Senate. When he was 29, he replaced Sen. James Caleb Boggs, but two weeks after, his wife and daughter tragically died in a car accident. He remained senator for Delaware for 36 years until he was selected to be Barack Obama’s running mate. They won and were re-elected in 2012. In 2019, he announced that he was going to run for president. In 2020, he won against President Trump and became the 49th President. The most notable achievement in Biden’s presidency was that he navigated the U.S. through COVID-19. The controversial topics during his term include abortion bans, illegal immigrants, etc.
President Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee right after he dropped out. Harris has a huge to-do list in a short amount of time: acquiring the votes of delegates to be her party’s nominee, picking a running mate, and convincing Biden’s supporters to vote for her; and doing it all in three months! If she wins the Democratic nomination and gets elected, Harris would be the first female, Black-Asian U.S. president.
After President Biden endorsed Vice-President Harris, several notable Democratic delegates endorsed her such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Congressional Black Caucus. Other endorsements include the Tennessee Democratic Party, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. However, former president Obama has notably not endorsed Vice-President Harris yet.
One reason that may have led to Biden dropping out of the race is that during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th, 2024 a man fired at Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, killing one spectator and injuring another. The assassination attempt caused Trump’s supporters to become even more roused and united behind him while Democrats are seemingly divided. His decision may also have been influenced by contracting COVID on Wednesday, July 10th with concerns about his health further exacerbating calls to drop out from within the party.
Democrats need to secure the candidates quickly in less than four months. Vice-President Harris is starting her presidential campaign. We look forward to the 2024 election!