On July 21, 2024, Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, announced his withdrawal from the 2024 United States presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. Harris subsequently received the Democratic nomination, but ultimately lost the election to former President Donald Trump.
Biden, a Democrat, had announced that he would run for re-election in the 2024 presidential election on April 25, 2023, with Harris again as his running mate. Biden had the support of almost all major donors in Democratic Party politics and went on to win an overwhelming majority of delegates in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries, where he easily defeated challengers such as Representative Dean Phillips. He was already considered the presumptive nominee before the primaries were over. However, public concerns about Biden's age and health had emerged during his presidency, particularly about his fitness for the office and ability to carry out a second term.
These concerns increased after the first 2024 presidential debate, between Biden and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump on June 27, 2024. Biden's performance was widely criticized, with commentators noting he frequently lost his train of thought and gave meandering answers, had a faltering appearance, spoke with a hoarse voice, and failed to recall statistics or coherently express his opinion on several occasions. Biden subsequently faced calls to withdraw from the race from fellow Democrats and from the editorial boards of major news outlets. By July 19, 2024, more than 30 senior Democrats had called for him to withdraw.
Biden repeatedly insisted for weeks after the debate that he would remain a candidate, despite numerous calls for him to withdraw. However, on July 21, 2024, he withdrew his candidacy via a signed letter posted on his personal Twitter account, writing that this was "in the best interest of my party and the country", while stating that he would continue serving as president until the conclusion of his term. Biden was the first incumbent president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 to withdraw from a reelection race, the first since the 19th century to withdraw after serving only one term, and the only major party presumptive nominee to withdraw after already winning the primaries.
Background.
Presidents who did not seek reelection.
Historically, most sitting U.S. presidents who completed one full term chose to run for a second. The following presidents were eligible for reelection after completing at least one full term in office, but chose not to run:
Passed by Congress in 1947 and ratified by the states in 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution imposes a limit of two full terms on presidents. Prior to the term limit, many (though not all) presidents followed an informal two-term tradition after a precedent set by George Washington, who chose not to run for re-election after serving two terms.
Biden as a bridge candidate.
During the 2020 presidential election, Biden pitched himself as a 'bridge' candidate to a new generation of leadership. However, he denied "Politico"'s claims that he was considering a one-term pledge. As Biden's campaign faltered in 2024, "Axios" quoted scholar Anthony Fowler as having said, "You could argue [back in 2020] he's trying to kind of have it both ways. He's trying to kind of tell people, 'Don't worry, I'm only running for one term,' without ever actually explicitly promising that".
Biden age and health concerns.
Biden was 78 years old at his inauguration, making him the oldest individual to assume the presidency. Biden was also older when he assumed the office than Ronald Reagan, the previous oldest, had been when leaving it. Health concerns surrounding Biden emerged during his presidency, primarily about his age and ability to carry out a second term. In a report in the "Journal on Active Aging", doctors noted he had an "exceptional health profile" relative to his age, and a medical assessment performed by physician Kevin O'Connor attested to his physical acuity. "The Washington Post"'s Dan Zak described the U.S. government as a "gerontocracy" with Biden's inauguration. On July 28, 2022, U.S. Representative Dean Phillips became the first incumbent Democratic member of Congress to say President Biden should not run for re-election and called for "generational change," pointing to Biden's age. On January 20, 2024, Phillips told Axios that he thought it would be "impossible" for Biden to do the job for four more years, and that "At that stage of life, it is impossible ultimately to conduct, to prosecute the office of the American presidency in the way that this country in the world needs right now. That is an absolute truth." In late January or early February 2024, Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, received a call from a Democratic senator where the senator reportedly told him that, "You do realise, off the record, that Joe Biden is not going to be our nominee? I just was at a meeting with him with several other senators and he couldn’t even function. We can’t run him." In February 2024, upon concluding the investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents, special counsel Robert Hur suggested that Biden would be able to present himself to a jury as an "elderly man with poor memory" and wrote that his memory "appeared to have significant limitations".
In July 2024, "The New York Times" reported that Kevin Cannard, a neurologist from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center specializing in movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, visited the White House eight times within the last eight months, including a meeting with Biden's physician. The report generated controversy as O'Connor challenged it, citing Cannard's appearances during Barack Obama's administration and personnel within the White House who suffer from neurological disorders.
Biden 2024 campaign.
Biden's candidacy.
On April 25, 2023, after months of speculation, Biden confirmed he would run for reelection as president in the 2024 presidential election, with Vice President Kamala Harris again as his running mate. The campaign launched four years to the day after the start of his 2020 presidential campaign. On the day of his announcement, a Gallup poll found that Biden's approval rating was 37%, with most of those surveyed saying the economy was their biggest concern. During his campaign, Biden promoted higher economic growth and recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. He frequently stated his intention to "finish the job" as a political rallying cry.
Biden made protecting American democracy a central focus of his campaign, along with restoring the federal right to abortion following the Supreme Court's overturning of "Roe v. Wade". He also intended to increase funding for border patrol and security and increase funding for law enforcement coupled with police reform. Biden promised to support, protect and expand LGBT rights, and frequently touted his previous passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Chips and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark investment to combat climate change.
Biden made strengthening U.S. alliances a key goal of his foreign policy and promised to continue supporting Ukraine following the Russian invasion of the country and Israel following their war with Hamas, describing them as "vital" to U.S. national security interests. Biden promised to continue efforts to tackle gun violence and defend the Affordable Care Act following comments from Donald Trump suggesting Trump would repeal the law. Biden proposed increasing taxes on the wealthy through a "billionaire minimum income tax" to reduce the deficit and fund social services for the poor.
Biden's trade policy was described as rejecting traditional neoliberal economic policy and the Washington Consensus that resulted in the offshoring of manufacturing and thus resulted in increased populist backlash. Biden proposed and enacted targeted tariffs against strategic Chinese industries to protect manufacturing jobs and counter China's technological and military ambitions. Biden faced opposition from Representative Dean Phillips during the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Phillips campaigned as a younger alternative to Biden, who would be a stronger opponent to Trump. Phillips argued during his campaign that Biden would be a weak general election candidate due to concerns about his age and low approval ratings. On December 23, 2023, Phillips argued that Biden should "thoughtfully exit" the 2024 race. Phillips accused Biden campaign representatives of pressuring liberal media outlets into blackballing and not platforming him. Biden was not on the ballot in the January 23 New Hampshire primary, but he won it in a write-in campaign with 63.8% of the vote and strongly defeated Representative Phillips, who garnered 19.6% of the vote. He had wanted South Carolina to be the first primary, and won that state on February 3 with 96.2% of the vote. Biden received 89.3% of the vote in Nevada.
Israel–Hamas war protest movements.
The Israel–Hamas war protest vote movements began as movements targeting Biden's policy towards the Israel–Hamas war. After an "uncommitted" vote in the US state of Michigan, activists sought to replicate the protest in other US states. A parallel Abandon Biden movement grew urging Biden to drop out of the presidential race. The uncommitted vote was the largest opposition to the Joe Biden 2024 presidential campaign and received higher vote totals than many contenders in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, including Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Beto O'Rourke, and Biden's vice president Kamala Harris. Uncommitted votes also achieved a higher percentage of the vote than the 2020 campaign of Pete Buttigieg, with only a fraction of the spending.
Biden received 81.1% of the vote in Michigan, with "None of These Candidates" and "uncommitted" coming in second in each state, respectively. On March 5 ("Super Tuesday"), he won 15 of 16 primaries, netting 80% or more of the vote in 13 of them. On March 12, Biden reached more than the 1,968 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination, becoming the presumptive nominee.
Debate with Trump.
Biden and Trump faced each other in a televised debate on June 27, 2024. Biden's performance in particular was criticized, in which he had a faltering appearance and spoke with a hoarse voice, and failed to recall statistics or coherently express his opinion on several occasions. Trump was declared the winner of the debate by columnists from "The Hill", CNN, "Politico", "The New York Times", "USA Today", "Business Insider", and "Vox". Columnists from MSNBC, "The Cook Political Report", "The Guardian", and the "Los Angeles Times" argued that while Trump did not win the debate, Biden "clearly lost". Polling also indicated the majority of the public believed Trump won. Following Biden's performance at the debate, many Democrats were described as being sent "into a panic" and called for him to withdraw from the race, leading to political turmoil within the party that the media referred to as the "Biden crisis".
Debate aftermath.
On July 3, twenty Democratic governors met with Biden at the White House and virtually to discuss the debate's effect on his campaign. Following the meeting, Governors Wes Moore of Maryland, Kathy Hochul of New York, and Tim Walz of Minnesota spoke to the press outside of the White House, with Walz specifically admitting that "Thursday night was a bad performance" and a "bad hit".
On July 17, ABC News reported that House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer had met with Biden on July 12 and 13, respectively, and had expressed concerns to Biden about Democratic losses in Congress. Biden reportedly told Schumer that he needed another week to make a decision. Jeffrey Katzenberg, a campaign co-chairman, reportedly warned Biden on July 17 that donors were withholding donations to his campaign, although Katzenberg disputed that characterization of their discussion.
That evening, Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He experienced mild symptoms, including a cough, runny nose, and "general malaise". However, images of him looking frail exiting from Air Force One on the way to isolation at his residence in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, fueled further speculation over his health. "The New York Times" reported that Biden was "more receptive" to withdrawing his nomination. In phone conversations, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi told Biden she was pessimistic about his candidacy. On July 18, "Axios" reported that Democrats believed Biden would exit the election, citing pressure from Jeffries and Schumer, internal polling, and criticism. "The New York Times" reported that day that Biden was considering that he may have to withdraw. CNN reported that on July 20, Biden met with advisors Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon, during which they concluded that worsening poll numbers and a loss of party support had left the