Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Sunday that they are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination for president after President Biden said he would not seek re-election.
Biden announced Sunday that he is suspending his 2024 re-election campaign and announced his “full support and endorsement” for Harris to take over as the party’s presidential nominee.
In a statement, the Clintons said Biden “has capped his extraordinary career of service with a Presidency that has lifted America out of an unprecedented pandemic, created millions of new jobs, rebuilt a battered economy, strengthened our democracy, and restored our standing in the world. By any measure, he has advanced our founders’ charge to build a more perfect union and his own stated goal of restoring the soul of our nation.”
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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“We join millions of Americans in thanking President Biden for all he has accomplished, standing up for America time and again, with his North Star always being what’s best for the country,” they said in their joint statement. “We are honored to join the President in endorsing Vice President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her.”
“We’ve lived through many ups and downs, but nothing has made us more worried for our country than the threat posed by a second Trump term. He has promised to be a dictator on day one, and the recent ruling by his servile Supreme Court will only embolden him to further shred the Constitution. Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we’ve got to elect her. America’s future depends on it.”
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President Joe Biden, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris on the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, July 4, 2024. Biden’s reelection campaign limped into the Independence Day holiday, exhausted by a week of the incumbent clawing to maintain his hold on his party’s nomination. (Tierney L. Cross)
Biden’s announcement came after weeks of speculation and pressure from Democrats for him to step aside after a disastrous presidential debate performance against Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president,” Biden wrote in a public letter. “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”
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In a social media post after the letter, Biden backed Harris to take over as the party’s standard-bearer.
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this,” Biden wrote.
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The president’s endorsement, along with power players like the Clintons, may dissuade any serious completion from other Democrats who may have mulled a bid for the presidential nomination and could clear a path for the vice president to succeed Biden as the party’s nominee.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
