Joe Biden Reiterates Kamala Harris Endorsement In First Public Address Since Withdrawing

President Joe Biden has just addressed the nation from the Oval Office as he discussed his historic decision not to seek a second term.

His remarks come one week after he was forced off the campaign trail in Las Vegas due to testing positive for COVID-19, and three days after his stunning announcement, posted in a letter on his X account, that he was stepping aside as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee.

Joe Biden’s announcement on Sunday was followed by a second message endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential nominee.

“While it has been my intention to seek re-election, 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,” Biden wrote in the letter. “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”

Biden is the first sitting president to decline reelection since Lyndon Baines Johnson stepped aside in 1968 due to the growing unrest over America’s involvement in Vietnam.

Following the announcement, Joe Biden endorsed his VP, Kamala Harris.

Shortly after Biden announced he is no longer seeking re-election, he endorsed Kamala Harris to run instead.

“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” he wrote in a follow-up post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “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,” he continued. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

Biden, who is now out of isolation after battling COVID-19 for the third time, reiterated his endorsement for Harris, calling her “tough” and “capable.”

“Now, in just a few months, the American people choose the course of America’s future,” the president said from the Oval Office in his first public address since dropping out of the race. “I made my choice. I made my views known. I would like to thank our great vice-president, Kamala Harris. She experienced. She’s tough, she’s capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country.”

“Now the choice is up to you, the American people,” Biden said.

After Joe Biden, among several others, endorsed Kamala Harris, she made her first campaign speech in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Her campaign also announced that it had raised $100 million since its launch on Sunday. On Monday, a Democratic super PAC, Future Forward PAC, stated that it had secured roughly $150 million in fundraising commitments since President Biden’s announcement.

“It is my intention to go out and earn this nomination and to win,” she said of her plans for the 2024 presidential race, per The Guardian. She also promised to “unite our Democratic party, to unite our nation, and to win this election.”

Moments after Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek re-election, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said his decision to withdraw from the race “reflects the very best of who Joe Biden is.”

“As he was going through the excruciating loss of his beloved son Beau, it was in Rehoboth, in Wilmington, in prayer and surrounded by all who have loved and supported him for decades in Delaware that he found strength,” Coons said, per CBS. “As he was finding his way through the tragic loss of his wife and daughter back in 1972 that began his career in the Senate, it was in Delaware.”

“And it was in his faith that he found the grounding and the strength to be able to get back up and continue, and in every chapter in his life, in politics, in service, in his family and at home, he’s been grounded,” he continued. “Joe Biden, more than anyone I’ve ever known, speaks to what is best in the American spirit.”