Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race in Statement on X

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he is dropping out of the U.S. presidential race. The President announced the decision in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, mere days after testing positive for Covid.

In a subsequent post, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and called for Democrats to “come together” on the matter and “beat Trump.” The news comes less than a month before what stands to be a historically decisive, and unusually influencer-laden, Democratic Convention.

Biden’s announcement noted that while he had intended to seek reelection, he concluded, “it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and solely focus on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” Though the outgoing U.S. leader said he would explain further “later this week,” there doesn’t seem to be a revelation coming — calls for Biden’s exit had intensified in recent weeks from both Democratic officials and donors, following a disastrous presidential debate in June.

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— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024

In recent weeks, former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump has received increasingly vocal support from Silicon Valley elites, such as Elon Musk, and investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The Republican Party has long courted wealthy tech executives; however, tech-sector donations to political candidates tend to skew towards Democrats.

Tech support for Democratic officials has previously extended to Harris, who received campaign support from wealthy Bay Area figures, such as Laurene Powell Jobs, while running to serve as California’s Attorney General. Harris has also spoken at Google’s campus and reportedly attended Facebook-billionaire Sean Parker’s wedding.