President Joe Biden said Wednesday that while he believes his record merits a second term in office, he is abandoning his re-election bid in order to “unite my party” to confront the threat to American democracy.
“Nothing can stand in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition,” Biden said, before quoting President Kennedy. “So I have decided that the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It is the best way to unite our nation.”
Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday under pressure from party leaders, donors and fellow Democrats, who feared his advanced age would make him unable to stop Donald Trump from returning to the presidency.
In his Oval Office speech, Biden made a passing reference to his age, saying it was time for “younger voices” to come to the fore.
Trump has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who quickly secured the pledges of delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination.
“America will have to choose between moving forward and moving backward, between hope and hatred, between unity and division,” Obama said. “We must decide whether we still believe in honesty and integrity and respect and freedom and justice and democracy.”
Biden also sought to reassure Americans that he could finish his term within the next six months, saying he would push for Supreme Court reform as well as ending the war in Gaza.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on the ongoing conflict. About 5,000 protesters demonstrated outside the Capitol.
On the campaign trail on Wednesday, Trump sought to blame Harris for hiding Biden's illness from the American people, which he called “the biggest scandal in American political history.”
“Harris shamelessly lied to the American public to cover up Joe Biden’s mental unfitness,” Trump said in Charlotte, North Carolina.
