President Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 race on Sunday in a seismic decision sparked by a relentless campaign from Democrats demanding he drop out because of his cognitive decline and his dire chances against Donald Trump.
His decision sets off an unprecedented chain of events that sets Democrats scrambling to to have a nominee for the top of the ticket in place with less than four months to go before Election Day.
The Democratic National Convention is set to kick off August 19 through 22 in Chicago where Biden had been set to formally accept the nomination having received 3,896 delegates during the primaries.
More than 4,600 delegates and thousand of other party officials will now head to the city without Biden as the presumptive nominee for the Democratic ticket.
The president made the announcement in a letter to his fellow Americans where he wrote it has been the greatest honor of his life to serve as president.
‘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,’ he wrote.
He did not make an endorsement of another Democrat, instead writing he would speak to the country later this week with more details about his decision.
Now Democrats must race to shore up their campaign behind a new nominee with less than four months until voting day.
The 81-year-old stepped aside Sunday after facing weeks of questions over his fitness to serve following his disastrous presidential debate performance that sparked a series of fumbles he could not recover from.
His extraordinary move comes after a 50-year career in politics that culminated in the White House.
