Following a painful first debate and growing calls for him to drop out of the race, President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he would be ending his bid for reelection in 2024. In his stead, Biden has endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee — joining the KHive at long last.
“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 wrote in a statement to X before offering his “full support and endorsement” for Harris to be the Democratic nominee. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
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… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
Meanwhile, in a statement of her own, Harris thanked Biden for his “extraordinary leadership” and wrote: “I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn this nomination.” She added: “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.”
INBOX: Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/QUKjLGLo8b
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 21, 2024
Support for a Harris candidacy has been brewing for weeks with several prominent Biden allies voicing their support for a potential Harris ticket and a CNN poll from earlier this month showing that she would come “within striking distance” of Trump in a hypothetical matchup. Biden’s announcement was quickly followed by an endorsement from the Clintons and a growing list of prominent Democrats, from House representatives Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to governors Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Wes Moore, and Roy Cooper, and Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Have now endorsed Harris:
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) July 22, 2024
-Whitmer
-Newsom
-Buttigieg
-Shapiro
-Kelly
-Pritzker
-Beshear
-Polis
-Moore
-Cooper
Pretty much all the big speculated-on potential rivals.
Harris’s campaign has also invigorated a wave of grassroots support: On Sunday evening, a record-breaking 40,000 participants joined a call via Win With Black Women, a national political organizing collective that says it raised $1 million for Harris in just three hours. According to the New York Times, the Harris campaign said it raised $49.6 million in the hours after Biden announced he was stepping down.
Plenty of celebrities have also expressed their support — including Charli XCX, who tweeted “kamala IS brat” (and apparently inspired a rebrand of @KamalaHQ).
kamala IS brat
— Charli (@charli_xcx) July 22, 2024
I guess now, we’re just waiting on Taylor Swift?
This post has been updated.
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