President Biden was heralded as a selfless hero by top Democrats on Sunday after stepping down from the 2024 race against former President Trump amid concerns about his age and capacity to run the nation.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) — among the most influential politicians who have been nudging Biden to step aside — called the 81-year-old “one of the most consequential presidents in American history” and thanked him for the decision.
“God blessed America with Joe Biden’s greatness and goodness,” Pelosi said in a statement shortly after his announcement.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) also expressed his gratitude for Biden’s decision and praised his presidential record.
“His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first,” Schumer said in a statement Sunday. “Joe, today shows you are a true patriot and great American.”
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Biden “will go down in history as one of the most impactful and selfless presidents,” and California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks called him “a statesman who put service before self.”
Meanwhile, Biden’s decision incensed Republicans who have been enjoying his flailing polling numbers, with some calling on him to resign immediately and painting Sunday’s announcement as an invalidation of the voters who put him in office three years ago.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on the social media platform X.
Biden’s announcement puts an end to weeks of speculation about his future, spurred by a consequential debate with Trump last month that spiked concerns about his performance as he stumbled to collect his thoughts on live television. Now, time is of the essence as election day is less than four months away and a lack of unity in the Democratic Party could further hurt its cause.
Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in his place on Sunday and others — including Bill and Hillary Clinton — quickly followed his lead.
But much is still unknown about the Democratic Party’s strategy in a historically precarious presidential campaign.
“We’ve lived through many ups and downs, but nothing has made us more worried for our country than the threat posed by a second Trump term,” the Clintons said in a joint statement Sunday. “Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we’ve got to elect her. America’s future depends on it.”
As the oldest president in history, Biden’s decision to not seek reelection comes amid mounting pressure from nearly 40 Democrats and independents in Congress, according to a Washington Post tracker. Sen. Joe Manchin III, an independent from West Virginia, was the latest to join those calls, saying just hours before Biden’s announcement that he was worried about his “health and well-being.”
The attention to Biden’s physical and mental capacity surged last week as he was sidelined from campaigning after contracting COVID-19.
For prominent Democrats like Rep. Adam B. Schiff, who called on Biden to drop out of the race last week, his decision comes as a relief and energizes the campaign to beat Trump.
“President Joe Biden will leave office with a legacy unlike any other modern president,” said Schiff, of Burbank.
Former President Obama, for whom Biden served as vice president, called him “a patriot of the highest order” and said that he “had every right” to run for reelection but saw the risk of a Trump presidency as too great.
Obama said America owes Biden for beating Trump in 2020 and for steering the nation “away from the four years of chaos, falsehood and division” that he said would have ensued under the Republican presidential candidate.
“For him to look at the political landscape and decide that he should pass the torch to a new nominee is surely one of the toughest in his life. But I know he wouldn’t make this decision unless he believed it was right for America,” Obama said in a lengthy statement. “It’s a testament to Joe Biden’s love of country — and a historic example of a genuine public servant once again putting the interests of the American people ahead of his own that future generations of leaders will do well to follow.”
Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, of Ohio, meanwhile, called Biden “the worst President in my lifetime” and slammed Harris for being in lockstep with him on policies such as immigration.
“She owns all of these failures, and she lied for nearly four years about Biden’s mental capacity — saddling the nation with a president who can’t do the job,” Vance said on X. “President Trump and I are ready to save America, whoever’s at the top of the Democrat ticket. Bring it on.”
