President Joe Biden has stepped down as the 2024 Democratic nominee following weeks of infighting among the party.
The president announced the news in with a statement on Twitter, saying: "It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And 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."
The decision comes after an AP poll revealed that nearly two-thirds of registered Democrats wanted Biden to withdraw following ongoing concerns about his age and health.
George Clooney was the first to publicly call for Biden to step down
Longtime Democratic donor George Clooney's July op-ed in the New York Times, calling on Biden to step down from the 2024 presidential race, was the first shot in what had become a huge talking point, amid fears former President Trump could win the election, sweep Congress, and remove long held rights for women, the LGBTQ community and immigrants.
George said he considered Joe "a friend" in his July 10 op-ed before he went on to claim that "the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010."
"He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate," George continued.
A campaign official told CNN that "George Clooney left [the event] three hours before the president".
What did Barack Obama say to Biden?
Former President Obama, whom Biden served under as Vice President, and former President Bill Clinton had both refused to be vocal or offer opinions, which many had taken to speak volumes, while Hillary Clinton, who served as Secretary of State under Obama alongside Biden also did not speak out.
It is thought both Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had privately called on Biden to step down; Mr Schumer visited Biden on July 13 but details of the meeting were not made public, with a statement simply claiming that the Senator "sat with President Biden this afternoon in Delaware; we had a good meeting."
Despite calls for him to step down, the reality was that only Biden could make the decision as he had won the party's delegation through caucuses and primary votes.
Who is the Democratic nominee now Biden has stepped down?
On March 12, 2024 Biden secured enough delegates for re-nomination and was declared the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.
Biden shared in his statement more details about his decision, and forthcoming plans, would be shared in a public address to the nation later this week, however he has already endorsed Harris as the party's nominee. The Democratic National Convention, which would have formally nominated Biden, does not take place until August and the party's rules confirm that the 3,934 delegates are "not bound" to cast their vote for Biden.
Instead, "all delegates to the National Convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them." As Biden has withdrawn from the race, the decision on whom the delegates pick instead will, says Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, often come down to who Biden may have signaled he wants to replace him.
"That would not bind the delegates but would obviously carry a lot of weight," she told AP News.
Can Kamala Harris beat Trump?
Polling is never perfect, but a recent YouGov poll revealed that Trump leads Biden by 2 points and Kamala Harris by 5.
A BlueLabs poll which tried to determine which would increase the number of people voting for the Democrats in seven battleground states – Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia –revealed Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer all outpace Biden by roughly 5 points.
They all outpaced Kamala, as well.