Joe Biden drops out of US presidential race, endorses Kamala Harris 

US President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed vice-president Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s candidate to face Republican nominee Donald Trump in the November election.

Biden, 81, said he will remain in the presidency until his term ends on 20 January 2025. 

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. 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 in a letter addressed to American people. 

The president said he will speak to the nation later this week. 

Biden has not been seen in public since testing positive for covid-19 last week. 

The unprecedented announcement came amid rising pressure from the Democrats after Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump in June. No candidate of a major party has ever announced their decision to abandon the campaign so close to the election. 

Biden immediately endorsed Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, projecting her as the favourite to win the nomination at the party’s national convention scheduled for 19-22 August in Chicago.

“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. 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,” Biden said. ‘

“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,” he added. 

While she has to win the support of the delegates at the convention, no major Democrat has yet come out to challenge her. California governor Gavin Newsom and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg—both of whom were being discussed by some Democrats as a possible replacement for Biden—endorsed her nomination on Sunday. 

Harris thanked Biden for the endorsement and said she “will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party.”

“On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country. I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said in a statement on X. 

“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda. If you’re with me, add a donation right now,” she added. 

If Harris, 59, secures the Democratic nomination, she would become the first woman of color to lead a major-party ticket in US history. 

Harris, whose mother is of Indian origin and father African-American, is a former attorney general of California and former US senator. She was one of the top contenders for the Democratic nomination in 2020 but lost to Biden. 

Reacting to the development, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site, “Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for president, and is certainly not fit to serve – and never was!”

“He only attained the position of president by lies, fake news, and not leaving his basement. All those around him, including his doctor and the media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being president, and he wasn’t,” he said.

“And now look what he’s done to our country, with millions of people coming across our border, totally unchecked and unvetted, many from prisons, mental institutions, and record numbers of terrorists. We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly,” he added. 

On facing Kamala Harris in the 5 November election, Trump told CNN: “Harris will be easier to beat than Joe Biden would have been.”