U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday, July 21 announced he would not stand for re-election in 2024.
With less than four months before the November U.S. presidential election, Biden quit the race after weeks of pressure from fellow Democrats.
This comes after a disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump in June.
The announcement sent shock waves in the country and globally but in a statement on his official social media platforms, Biden endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden also rallied support for Kamala and urged the Democratic Party to unite in supporting her to beat the Republican Party’s Donald Trump.
“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. 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.” Biden said.
Harris in a statement on X, hailed the president for his extraordinary leadership and is honoured to have his endorsement.
“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,”
“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.” She said.
Harris was born in Oakland, California to Shyamala Gopalan and Donald J. Harris.
Shyamala was a biologist whose work on the progesterone receptor gene facilitated work in breast cancer research.
On the other hand, Donald J. Harris is a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University.
She lived briefly in Berkley, California with her younger sister Maya.
She began kindergarten at Thousand Oaks Elementary School, a public school in Northern Berkeley.