Live Updates: Biden Ends Reelection Campaign

President Joe Biden is ending his quest for reelection.

Biden announced his intention Sunday afternoon, promising to reveal more about his decision soon.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden’s statement posted on X read. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, 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.”

His statement thanked Vice President Kamala Harris “for being an extraordinary partner in all this work,” but the statement did explicitly endorse her as his successor.

However, in a subsequent statement posted to X, Biden offered “my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.” Biden then called on Democrats to unite, writing “it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”

This is a developing story. See below for updates, all times Pacific.

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9:22 p.m. PT

In comments to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, former Biden White House spokesperson Jen Psaki explains that the “goal” of whatever nomination “process” the DNC decides on is to make Harris “look strong and be strong at the end of the process.”

8:25 p.m. PT

America should expect to hear a lot from Harris about being “unburdened.”

8:11 p.m. PT

Trump supporter and Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Sacks notes the palace coup-like aspect of Biden announcing he’s leaving the race via a post on X. We still have not physically seen or heard from the 46th president, and his staff apparently learned about today’s decision via X just like the rest of the world.

Sacks writes:

Let’s review. Joe Biden said repeatedly that he didn’t want to step aside. Then came reports that Democrat Party insiders led by Nancy Pelosi would ratchet up the pressure until they drove him out of the race. We still don’t know what pressure they used, but Biden suddenly announces his resignation as nominee via a tweet, with no address to the American people. Even his own campaign and White House staff are caught by surprise. We still haven’t seen or directly heard from him hours later. For all we know, someone hacked his X account. But the entire Democrat Party and MSM are praising the situation, acting like this is completely normal. Apparently they have no interest in finding out what changed. “Democracy” just means falling in line with a new X handle, with no questions or transparency about how this happened.

8:03 p.m. PT

Biden’s brother, Frank Biden, who featured prominently in Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow’s bestseller Breaking Biden, issued a statement about his brother’s withdrawal from the race.

“I will have him back to enjoy whatever time we have left,” Frank stated, which some commentators have interpreted as implying that Joe Biden does not have much longer on this earth.

7:53 p.m. PT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a longtime Harris ally, has endorsed Harris.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has not issued a public statement endorsing Harris, but Politico reports that she joined a campaign call with Harris’ staff and has thrown her support behind the Vice President.

7:43 p.m. PT

Breitbart’s John Nolte notes that Biden’s decision to drop out follows three years of the establishment corporate media dismissing as conspiracy theorists and cranks anyone who pointed out Biden’s obvious physical and mental decline.

“Joe Biden himself finally admitting he is in no condition to run for reelection is the smoking gun that definitively proves the corporate media have been lying and covering up the truth of his condition for years,” he writes.

Read the rest here.

7:42 p.m. PT

The Association of State Democratic Committees, which supports the local Democratic Party apparatus in each state, has announced their “overwhelming support” for Harris, which means that she has clinched the support of all the Democrat state party chairs and leadership. This is quite a coup for Harris’ “political shock-and-awe campaign.”

7:23 p.m. PT 

The pro-abortion organization EMILY’s List has announced it will spend $20 million to support Harris.

Harris’ extreme commitment to abortion supersedes respect for the First Amendment and other basic civil liberties, as her track record as California’s attorney general has shown. That much was clear from her persecution of David Daleiden, the undercover investigative journalist who exposed Planned Parenthood’s illegal sale of baby body parts.

“In 2015, after I released undercover videos of taxpayer-funded Planned officials trafficking the body parts of live-aborted fetuses, Planned Parenthood was desperate and furious. The organization turned to Harris, its political patron in the California Attorney General’s office, for help to silence me and my message.” Daleiden explained in an exclusive op-ed for Breitbart.

Harris met privately with California Planned Parenthood executives and discussed her “investigation” into Daleiden. Less than two weeks later, her California DOJ police descended on Daleiden’s home as if he were El Chapo. They had explicit instructions from Planned Parenthood to seize his laptops and hard drives with the undercover video.

“Does anyone doubt that if I had been investigating and publishing undercover video reports on unlicensed gun sales, factory farming, or unsanitary grocery practices, that Harris never would have dreamed of raiding my home?” Daleiden wrote.

6:24 p.m. PT

Democrat strategist David Axelrod praised Harris’ “political shock-and-awe campaign” to secure the nomination today.

Nothing says “democracy” like inter-party “shock-and-awe” campaigns and palace coups.

6:19 p.m. PT

Major Biden donor and fundraiser John Morgan tells ABC News that he will not fundraise for the Democrats if Harris is the nominee, saying that “if Trump World could pick anybody to run against, I think they pick her.”

Earlier on X, Morgan told establishment media figures that “Joe Biden’s endorsement of Kamala is his [f*ck] you to all who pushed him out.”

5:49 p.m. PT

Squad members Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have all endorsed Harris. No word yet from Michigan’s Rep. Rashida Tlaib who was a leading voice in the “Uncommitted” movement urging Democrats to not vote for Biden.

5:2o p.m. PT

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) has seemingly endorsed Harris with this interesting (and somewhat cryptic) post on X.

It appears to be a play on Harris’ comment in a speech last year about falling from coconut trees.

5:19 p.m. PT

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), whose endorsement of Biden in 2020 before the South Carolina Democratic primary was crucial in securing Biden the nomination, has endorsed Harris.

5:03 p.m. PT

Today is National Ice Cream Day, an ironic day for Joe Biden — the nation’s most famous ice cream lover — to end his political career.

4:55 p.m. PT

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has also been mentioned on the short list of potential Harris running mates, has endorsed Harris.

4:31 p.m. PT

The video flashback of former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s devastating take down of Harris in a 2020 Democratic primary debate is making the rounds on social.

Gabbard weighed in today on the news that Harris is seeking the nomination, urging voters not to be “fooled” by her.

“She is the new figurehead for the deep state and the maidservant of Hillary Clinton, queen of the cabal of warmongers,” Gabbard wrote on X. “They will continue their efforts to engulf the world in war and taking away our liberty.”

4:20 p.m. PT

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, whose name has been mentioned on the short list of potential Harris running mates, has endorsed Harris.

4:15 p.m. PT

Politico reports that Harris is claiming Biden’s campaign cash for her own campaign now.

4:12 p.m. PT

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green has endorsed Harris.

3:58 p.m. PT

Though Biden has endorsed Harris, the DNC’s 4,600 delegates are not obligated to obey him. Biden’s 3,896 pledged delegates are now essentially free agents, as are the roughly 700 “automatic delegates” who are sometimes called “superdelegates.”

As Ballotpedia explains:

To win the Democratic nomination, a presidential candidate needs to receive support from a majority of the pledged delegates on the first ballot: an estimated 1,968 pledged delegates.

If the convention is contested and goes to a second ballot or more, automatic delegates—commonly referred to as superdelegates—are able to vote and a candidate must receive majority support from all delegates—2,258 votes.

The delegates will decide who the nominee will be at the convention in Chicago on August 19-22; however, “[t]here is no precedent or historical record to consult, and the party’s rules are not always clear on the details of what will unfold next,” the New York Times notes.

The Times outlines two possible scenarios the DNC could follow in picking the nominee. First, the party could just agree (decree) that they will back Harris. Or the party could hold some sort of candidate forum where prospective nominees could make their case to the delegates. Either way, the delegates will decide the nominee regardless of what the Democratic Party’s voters think. It’s hard for Democrats to rebut the criticism that party insiders are choosing their candidate — because that is exactly what will happen.

This makes it harder for Democrats to run on “defending democracy” when their own party is so blatantly flouting the democratic process.

3:40 p.m. PT

Tennessee’s 77 Democrat delegates all voted to back Harris today in a conference call, the New York Times reports. This makes Tennessee the first state delegation to back Harris.

3:33 p.m. PT

Randy Weingarten, the union boss of the nation’s largest teachers union, which is one of the most important organs of the Democratic Party, is endorsing Harris.

3:24 p.m. PT

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has issued a statement endorsing Harris. CNN is reporting that sources “close to” Harris have mentioned Shapiro in the short list of possible Harris running mates, along with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), and Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC).

3:18 p.m. PT

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has endorsed Harris, joining Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) who has also endorsed her.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) says on MSNBC that she is excited to see Harris as the nominee.

2:51 p.m. PT

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) announced on X that she will introduce a resolution tomorrow “condemning Kamala Harris’ role as Joe Biden’s ‘Border czar’ leading to the most catastrophic open border crisis in history.”

2:48 p.m. PT

Hunter Biden has broken his silence with the following statement:

For my entire life, I’ve looked at my dad in awe. How could he suffer so much heartache and yet give so much of whatever remained of his heart to others? Not only in the policies he passed, but in the individual lives he’s touched. Over a life time I have witnessed him absorb the pain of countless everyday Americans who he’s given his personal phone number to, because he wanted them to call him when they were hurting. When their last hopes were slipping through their hands. That unconditional love has been his North Star as a President, and as a parent. He is unique in public life today, in that there is no distance between Joe Biden the man and Joe Biden the public servant of the last 54 years. I’m so lucky every night I get to tell him I love him, and to thank him. I ask all Americans to join me tonight in doing the same. Thank you, Mr. President. I love you, Dad.

2:43 p.m. PT

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) announced on X that she will introduce a resolution calling on Harris “to invoke the 25th Amendment and assume the duties of acting President” because if Biden does not have the “cognitive ability to seek reelection, he does not have the cognitive ability to serve” as president.

2:31 p.m. PT

In his statement on X, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accuses the DNC of trying to “rig the nominating process again to get a monumentally unpopular vice president to step into President Biden’s shoes” after attempting to hide Biden’s “degeneration from the American public and disable democracy to ram him through to his party’s nomination.”

“Many Americans fear that the same DNC elites are about to rig the nominating process again to get a monumentally unpopular vice president to step into President Biden’s shoes,” RFK Jr. wrote.

2:27 p.m. PT

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) said he is not yet ready to back Harris and instead has called for a “truncated process” to pick a nominee.

As noted below, there is likely to be more talk of a “process” rather than an outright endorsement of Harris coming from elected Democrats who still have to face voters. There is already criticism, especially from 2016 Bernie Sanders’s supporters, that the Democratic Party is once again “rigging” the nomination to anoint the party establishment and donor class pick.

2:12 p.m. PT

That was fast! Here is TIME magazine’s new cover.

2:11 p.m. PT

Biden’s campaign committee has officially filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to change its name from “Biden for President” to “Harris for President.”

2:04 p.m. PT

In a post on X, Biden donor and fundraiser John Morgan tells the establishment media figures who urged Biden to leave the race that they should be “careful what you wish for” because “Joe Biden’s endorsement of Kamala is his [f*ck] you to all who pushed him out.”

This is likely in reference to Harris’ unpopularity with voters and the fact that the latest polling shows her still losing to Trump.

1:33 p.m. PT

So far, Obama and Pelosi stand out among Democrat leaders for not specifically endorsing Harris. It will be interesting to see whether current elected Democrat politicians (who still must face public opinion) call for the party to get behind Harris or call for an open and competitive process that, at least in theory, will look less rigged.

1:19 p.m. PT

In Obama’s statement praising Obama and not endorsing Harris, he writes: “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”

1:12 p.m. PT

Harris says that she is “honored” to have Biden’s endorsement and that she will “earn and win” the nomination.

Harris was one of the first candidates to drop out of the 2020 Democratic primary campaign.

1:10 p.m. PT

Politico reports that Biden’s White House and campaign aides learned the news that Biden is dropping the same way the rest of the world did — by Biden’s statement on X.

“We’re all finding out by tweet,” one Democrat told Politico.

1:07 p.m. PT

The New York Times, which has led the charge in demanding Biden drop out after his debate performance, reports that Democrat major donors are solidifying their support behind Harris.

https://twitter.com/RAMansour/status/1815124649342304648

12:48 p.m. PT

Former President Barack Obama issued a statement praising Biden but, like Pelosi, offered no endorsement of Harris.

12:36 p.m. PT

Democrat mega donor Alex Soros has spoken, throwing his support behind Harris.

12:30 p.m. PT

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issues a statement thanking Biden for his service but not offering any endorsement of Harris.

Last week, Pelosi told colleagues that she supports an “open” and “competitive” nomination process if Biden drops out, the New York Times reported.

12:28 p.m. PT

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who was running in the Democratic primary before deciding to launch an independent run, announced that he will be holding a press conference at 5 p.m. ET today.

12:25 p.m. PT

The DNC Chair Jaime Harrison issued a statement that seems to acknowledge that the Democratic Party does not yet have a plan in place for deciding who the nominee will be.

“In short order, the American people will hear from the Democratic Party on next steps and the path forward for the nomination process,” he writes.

12: 23 p.m. PT

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton issued a statement endorsing Harris.

12:19 p.m. PT

The Republican messaging is already turning to Harris. Donald Trump Jr. noted on X that Harris botched her major responsibility in the administration as Biden’s “border czar.”

The Make America Great Again PAC posted this ad to X.

12:13 p.m. PT

Speculation has already begun over who the Democrats’ vice-presidential nominee will be, assuming that the party unites behind Harris as the top of the ticket. Names being mentioned include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newson, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Indiana Gov. Andy Beshear, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

12:09 p.m. PT

Republican Nominee former President Donald Trump predicted last December that neither Biden nor Harris would be the Democratic nominee.

After Biden’s announcement today, Trump reportedly told CNN that he believes Harris will be easier to beat than Biden. He also called Biden “the worst president in the history of our country.”

12:06 p.m. PT

In what looks like an effort to preempt any legal challenges, Democrat lawyer Marc Elias declared on X that the still unknown Democratic nominee “will be on all 50 state ballots.”

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1815089795728622009

12:02 p.m. PT

Questions also remain as to whether Biden can transfer the campaign donations to Harris if she becomes the Democrats’ nominee. FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey posted this somewhat cryptic tweet on X after Biden’s announcement.

However, it is possible that a potential Harris campaign could argue that the donations were also directed to her as well because she was Biden’s running mate.

12:00 p.m. PT

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is also calling on Biden to step down from his presidency. In a statement on X, Johnson writes: “If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”

11:52 a.m. PT

Even before today’s announcement by Biden, some were calling for him to step down from the presidency if he stepped aside from the nomination.

Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee Ohio Sen. JD Vance posted on X this morning before Biden’s announcement, “If Joe Biden ends his reelection campaign, how can he justify remaining President?”

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said in a statement, “If Joe Biden can’t run for re-election, he is unable and unfit to serve as President of the United States. He must immediately resign.”

11:50 a.m. PT

Former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Democrat “donors and “electeds” to “end the political fantasy games” and united behind Harris, who he describes as “the only veteran of a national campaign.”