At 1:46 PM Eastern on Sunday, July 21, 2024, President Joe Biden posted a letter to his social media accounts announcing that he would not seek re-election. At 4:13 PM, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Within 24 hours, Harris had raised $81 million — the largest single-day fundraising haul in American political history. A campaign that had been on life support was suddenly electric. For 107 days, it felt like the race had changed.
Why Biden Left
The June 27 debate against Trump was the breaking point. Biden’s performance — halting, confused, visibly diminished — confirmed what many Democrats had privately feared. Within weeks, a growing number of congressional Democrats, donors, and party leaders publicly called for him to step aside. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries all communicated their concerns. Biden resisted for three weeks. Then, on a Sunday afternoon, he conceded that the stakes were too high to hold on.
He was the first sitting president to decline the nomination since Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
The Harris Sprint
Harris moved fast. She secured enough delegate commitments to clinch the nomination before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. She chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate. She held massive rallies. She energized young voters. She debated Trump on September 10 and, by nearly every post-debate metric, won decisively — Trump refused a second debate.
What Happened
On November 5, 2024, Trump won. He swept all seven swing states. He won the popular vote — the first Republican to do so since George W. Bush in 2004. He won 312 electoral votes to Harris’s 226. The excitement, the fundraising, the debate performance, the historic nature of the candidacy — none of it was enough.
The autopsy was immediate and brutal. Some blamed Biden for waiting too long. Some blamed the party for not holding a real primary. Some blamed inflation, immigration, and the cost of eggs. The reasons were many. The result was singular: America elected a convicted felon, twice-impeached, four-times-indicted candidate over the first Black woman to lead a major party ticket.
Bottom Line
Biden did the thing his critics demanded: he stepped aside. Harris did the thing people said couldn’t be done: she built a campaign from scratch in 107 days. She raised more money, ran a tighter operation, and won the debate. And on Election Day, the country chose the other guy. Not because the alternative wasn’t presented. Because enough voters looked at both options and picked the one with 34 felony convictions, 91 total charges, an insurrection, classified documents in a bathroom, and a post calling for the termination of the Constitution. That’s the country we live in. Nobody can say they weren’t warned.
Sources
- Politico: “Biden drops out, throwing the 2024 election into chaos,” July 21, 2024.
- Wikipedia: 2024 presidential election results — Trump 312, Harris 226 electoral votes.
- Associated Press: Biden withdrawal coverage and Harris endorsement.
- New York Times: Final 2024 presidential election results.