President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he will end his presidential re-election campaign, bringing an abrupt and humbling conclusion to his half-century-long political career and scrambling the race for the White House just four months before Election Day.
Biden, 81, could not reverse the growing sentiment within his party that he was too frail to serve and destined to lose to Donald Trump in November. He has backed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee.
More now from Kamala Harris, who’s issued a statement after learning that Joe Biden has ended his bid for re-election and endorsed her to become the Democratic candidate in the November presidential election.
She thanks Biden for his “extraordinary leadership” and “decades of service to our country”.
Recounting how she met the president, she goes on to write of his “honesty and integrity… his love of our country and the American people”.
She describes his decision to end his re-election bid as a “selfless and patriotic act” and says she is “honoured” to have Biden’s endorsement.
Donald Trump Jr, the former president’s son, was one of the first to direct Republican attack lines towards Harris.
“Kamala Harris owns the entire leftwing policy record of Joe Biden. The only difference is that she is even more liberal and less competent than Joe, which is really saying something,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
Many on the right attacked her track record on the US southern border, as she was directed to lead America’s immigration policy.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, who has frequently been criticised for his hardline immigration positions, attacked her record on immigration.
“Joe Biden has now endorsed and fully supports his ‘Borders Czar’ Kamala Harris to be the Democrat candidate for president,” he wrote on social media. “I think I will need to triple the border wall, razor wire barriers and National Guard on the border.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican lawmaker known for making controversial statements, joined other Trump allies in dismissing any candidate who intended take on Biden’s mantle.
“Kamala. Michelle. Hillary. It doesn’t matter who they pick,” Greene says. “President Trump is the strongest he’s ever been and you can’t stop the TRUMP TRAIN.”