On Sunday, July 21, President Joe Biden announced that he was no longer seeking reelection in the 2024 presidential race. In his statement posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, at 1:46 p.m, he touts his administration’s accomplishments over the past three and a half years. Those include the strongest economy in the world; lowering prescription drug costs; and passing significant climate change and gun legislation. The statement then says that though seeking reelection had been his intention, ending his campaign was “in the best interest of [his] party and the country.” Noticeably absent was a direct endorsement of his Vice President Kamala Harris, whom many believed was the most obvious contender for the nomination. Twenty-six minutes later, he shut down this concern by offering his full-throated endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president.
Voters have expressed their concerns about Biden’s age for quite some time now—an Ipsos Poll from February found that 86% of Americans thought Biden was too old to serve another term as president—and over the past few weeks, Democratic party leaders started to feel the same. These worries were only amplified by Biden’s poor performance during the June 27th presidential debate. When the ninety-minute debate finished, political analysts across all networks were shocked. John King, CNN’s chief national correspondent, said there was a “wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party” that started within the first few minutes of the debate. Flash polls following the debate echoed this sentiment—in another Ipsos Poll, 60% of viewers said Trump performed the best, compared to a mere 21% who believed Biden performed the best. Interestingly, these results are similar to some of the polling after the first 2020 presidential debate between Trump and Biden. Undeniably, a post-debate panic hit the Democratic Party. The day after the debate, The New York Times editorial board called on Democrats to “acknowledge that Mr. Biden can’t continue his race,” and work on replacing him as the nominee. Not soon after, TIME magazine unveiled its new cover: President Biden against a stark red background, made to look as if he was walking off the cover, with one word that captured the general sentiment of the party—“Panic.” Additionally, on July 2, Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first sitting Democratic member of Congress to call on Biden to withdraw from the race.
In the weeks following the debate, the President and his team tried their hand at damage control. Though he had some strong public appearances—most notably at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, only fourteen hours after the debate—it was exceedingly difficult for his supporters and allies to continue acting as if everything was fine. He scheduled his first post-debate television interview on July 5 with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. After ABC previewed the interview, Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois became the fourth Democratic member of Congress to call on Biden to exit the race. Though President Biden demonstrated a stronger performance in the Stephanopoulos interview, he needed to do more than clear the “incredibly low bar that he set on national television” if he hoped to win over a party that seemed increasingly unsure about his ability to run for re-election. Then came a “big boy press conference,” in the words of Bloomberg’s Justin Sink, later used by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre scheduled for July 11, which Biden hoped would be the key to shutting down concerns within the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, many viewers of the press conference could not look past two major flubs: firstly, his referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” during the earlier NATO summit; and secondly, his referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” only minutes into the conference. Looking past these errors, Biden held a solid press conference that displayed his strong understanding of economic policy and foreign affairs, but he couldn’t “[stop] the political bleeding.” Democratic Congressmen Jim Himes, Scott Peters, and Eric Sorensen released statements in the immediate aftermath of the press conference, urging Biden to step aside from the race.
Ultimately, President Biden seemed to be failing at proving to his party that he was the candidate to take on former President Donald Trump. The national polling numbers remained very close, but Trump’s margin of victory appeared to slightly widen after the June 27 debate. 538’s national polling found Trump up by 1.4 percentage points in what had previously been a perpetually tied race. On July 13, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) met with Biden to “[convey] the views of his caucus directly” to the President. In an unconfirmed ABC News report, Senator Schumer allegedly urged the President to step down, claiming it was “better for the Democratic Party and better for the country if he were to bow out.” Soon after this one-on-one meeting, there was an assassination attempt on former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. This assassination attempt shook the entire country and brought the Biden campaign’s political activity to a standstill. They worked to take down television ads attacking Trump and staffers “pause[d] any proactive campaign communication.” Many theorized that the assassination attempt on former President Trump would seal his win in the election. Though the polling did not suggest an overwhelming victory, Trump did further gain an edge in the swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada—some of which are key states for the Democrats in the election. A few Biden allies believed that the assassination attempt would silence the calls for Biden to step down as the nominee. Sure enough, members of the Democratic Party quieted in their calls for Biden to drop out, but this was short lived.
The next week began with a bang. The Republican National Convention (RNC) started on July 15, just two days after the attempt on former President Trump’s life. Former President Trump accepted the official nomination of the Republican Party, announced Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, and set a record for the longest convention acceptance speech. After days of silence from the Democratic Party, Congressman Adam Schiff of California released a statement on July 17, calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race. Representative Schiff became the first high-profile Democrat to release such a public statement. Hours later, the White House announced that President Biden had tested positive for COVID-19, and he was to quarantine at his home in Rehoboth, Delaware.
On July 18, it was reported that former House Speaker Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi told House Democrats that President Biden is seriously considering leaving the race. Thus began a “72-hour crunch period” for President Biden and his reelection campaign. Pressure from Democrats continued to mount, with fifteen Democratic officials calling on him to drop out from July 18 to July 20. Throughout these expressed concerns, Biden’s campaign team firmly backed the President. Jen O’Malley Dillon, chair of the Biden-Harris reelection campaign, told MSNBC, “[Biden is] absolutely in it.” Campaign co-chairs joined what they expected to be a bombshell of a call on July 20, but were instead met with a usual “rote description of the latest details on door-knocking and social media.” In fact, his Vice President Kamala Harris, his chief of staff Jeff Zients, and his aforementioned campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon did not learn of Biden’s decision to bow out until Sunday morning.
The President kept knowledge of his intention to withdraw limited to two advisors: Steve Ricchetti—Counselor to the President—and Mike Donilon—Senior Advisor to the President and speechwriter. The three men worked together on the historic letter published on Sunday, July 21, at 1:46 p.m. A majority of Americans (71%) approve of President Biden’s choice to withdraw from the race. Many people have commended the President for the action, describing the decision as “profound[ly] patriotic”; “selfless”; and an “act of self-sacrifice that places him in the company of George Washington.” Indeed, President Biden’s withdrawal has conjured the memory of another former president: President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose 1968 decision to end his reelection bid also received utmost praise.
These past few months have undoubtedly been extremely difficult for President Biden. When pressure from his friends, allies, and supporters continued to mount, he did what his duty called for: he listened to the American people. His chances of winning the election against former President Trump continued to shrink, and he recognized that the Democratic Party had a better chance with a new name at the top of the ticket. He put aside personal ambition in deciding to pass the torch of democracy to his Vice President Kamala Harris—now it is up to us, the voters, to choose who will continue our American legacy.
Junior Madison Galczyk is a contributing writer. Her email is mgalczyk@fandm.edu.