Biden will not seek reelection; endorses Harris

Washington CNN — President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him on Sunday.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden wrote in a letter posted to his official account on X. “And while it 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 to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Biden said he will speak to the nation later this week in more detail.

In a follow-up post, Biden praised Harris and urged Democrats to unite behind her. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” Biden wrote. “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.”

Harris, who was informed of Biden’s decision Sunday, said in a statement that she was “honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.” She is spending the day reaching out to lawmakers, outside organizations and donors, and was slated to make up to 200 calls on Sunday alone, a top Democratic source close to her told CNN.

Many prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, quickly came out in support of Harris, although some who released statements reacting to Biden’s decision did not mention the vice president, including former President Barack Obama.

“I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” Obama said in a statement that kept the focus on Biden.

An adviser said Obama is taking the same approach as he did in the 2020 Democratic primary, watching closely with the intent of being able to help unify the party when a nominee is chosen – whether it is Harris or someone else.

Others explicitly called for an open process to determine who should replace Biden at the top of the ticket.