By John Odunayo
United States President Joe Biden has withdrawn from the race for the US presidency.
This was contained in a letter conveying his decision to withdraw from the presidential race.
He stated, “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 focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in the letter.
Biden’s letter below:
Biden thanked the vice-president, Kamala Harris, in his letter, but did not endorse her as his successor on the ticket. He said he planned to speak to the nation in more detail later this week.
The president made the shocking announcement after a weeks-long pressure campaign by Democratic leaders, organizers and donors who increasingly saw no path to victory so long as the embattled incumbent remained on the ticket.
A disastrous debate performance last month, and his uneven public appearances since, have only exacerbated longstanding voter concerns that the 81-year-old president was simply too old to serve another four years.
Biden’s decision to step aside from the race, though remain as president, caps a singular few weeks in American politics, the latest stunning episode in an unusually tumultuous election season.
Trump, the former president and Republican nominee, narrowly survived an attempt on his life during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania that bloodied his ear and left one spectator dead. Biden, after appealing for calm in the wake of attack, had returned to the campaign trail last week determined to salvage his candidacy and once again prove his doubters wrong.
In media appearances, the president was defiant, insisting that he would remain the party’s standard-bearer in November, barring an intervention from the “Lord Almighty”, being struck by a train or a medical condition. On Wednesday, as Biden was set to deliver remarks at a conference in Nevada, he tested positive for Covid.
The president’s withdrawal pushes the Democratic party into largely uncharted waters, with its national convention scheduled to begin on 19 August in Chicago. The nominee will also have a tight window to choose a running mate to take on Trump and his vice-presidential pick, the Ohio senator JD Vance.
