Harris releases statement after Biden drops out of 2024 race
Joe Biden announced he would drop out of the 2024 race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee.
President Joe Biden, 81, announced on Sunday that he is no longer vying for the White House in the 2024 presidential election against the 78-year-old Republican nominee Donald Trump. He also gave Vice President Kamala Harris his full support to seek the Democratic nomination.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” Biden said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
Harris, 59, who already made history as the nation’s first woman, first Black American, and first South Asian American to be elected vice president, received endorsements from several prominent leaders, including former Democratic President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.
Noticeably quiet: former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama thanked Biden for his patriotism but did not vocalize their support for Harris or any other candidate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who praised Biden’s decision to step aside, also was silent on who should be the Democrats’ nominee.
“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” Obama said in a statement. “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
What is Vice President Kamala Harris’ nationality and ethnicity?
Harris, the former U.S. Senator from California and the state’s Attorney General, Harris, is a U.S. citizen. The daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, she was born in Oakland, California on Oct. 20, 1964.
On the campaign trail, Harris has worked to appeal to Black leaders and voters through conversations at barber shops and historically Black colleges and universities. She attended Howard University, an HBCU, and was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, which mobilized behind her and could be spotted at rallies.
Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.