The final hours: How Joe Biden made the decision to drop out of the 2024 White House race

On April 25, 2023, Joe Biden announced that he was running for re-election, asking voters to give him more time to “finish the job” — with Vice President Kamala Harris right by his side.

In a video that was aired everywhere, he said, “Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours.”

A year later and a few months before America goes to the polls — the voting is scheduled for November 5 — Biden once again made an announcement, this time, possibly upending US politics by saying through a letter he posted on X that he was dropping out of the race.

Isolating at his home in Delaware after contracting COVID-19, he said in his letter: “It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your president. And 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. I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”

More from Explainers

What happened during Trump's call with Zelenskyy and European leaders? Trump-Putin summit: Why Russia sold Alaska to the US in 1867

As CNN notes, it was a very low-key way to reveal one of the most historic decisions in modern American politics. He also then endorsed his running mate Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. “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,” said Biden.

As the nation as well as the world reels from this decision, let’s take a look at how the 81-year-old commander-in-chief reached this point and how it came as a surprise to even his White House staff.

Impact Shorts

View All

'My god, what have we done': The 2 US pilots who dropped atomic bombs on Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki

US is making it tougher to obtain green card for married couples. Here’s why

The final 48 hours

Biden’s decision to drop out of the race is a complete reversal of his previous stance where he said that he was the only man who could beat Trump. Despite the growing calls from the Democratic Party and its donors, the 81-year-old insisted he was the man for the job and even said that he would be returning to campaigning this week — after his COVID diagnosis.

However, all of that changed, reportedly on Saturday night and it is reported that he began consultations with family and top advisers by telephone and reached his decision by Sunday.

According to an NBC News report, Biden reluctantly came to accept that he couldn’t sustain his campaign any longer as his numbers were slipping, donors were fleeing and senior party members and leaders were pushing him to exit. It was on Saturday that he finally came to the decision that many Democrats had already reached: Biden couldn’t run this race any longer.

On Saturday, Biden convened his family and trusted aides, which included Steve Richetti, one of his closest advisers, Mike Donilon, his chief strategist, Annie Tomasini, his deputy chief of staff and Anthony Bernal, the chief of staff to First Lady Jill Biden.

After hours and hours of pouring over the data, Biden worked with Donilon, drafting his statement that would bring an end to his candidacy while Richetti worked through the details of rolling out the announcement and informing other staff.

It was on Sunday morning then that Biden made his final decision of dropping out of the White House race and then separately called his chief of staff Jeff Zients, his campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and Vice President Kamala Harris to inform them, sources have told the BBC.

Taking the White House by surprise

On Sunday at 1.45 pm (local time), Biden called up his White House senior staff to break the news. A minute after he broke the news to them over a Zoom call, he released his public statement to the world, causing shock and surprise for many.

It is said that Jill Biden, Biden’s wife, played a key role in Joe’s decision to drop out of the race. Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communication director told the BBC, “Down to the last hours of the decision only he could make, she was supportive of whatever road he chose. She’s his biggest believer, champion and always on his side, in that trusted way only a spouse of almost 50 years can be.”

Notably, some came to know of Biden’s decision through social media — an indicator of how close the news was kept. He told NBC News that everyone around Biden was taken by surprise, particularly after some of Biden’s closest allies were on Sunday shows pushing for his candidacy. “No one knew. Kamala didn’t even know,” the person said.

A number of his aides, as per a Washington Post report, were upset by being kept in the dark, having been told Friday and Saturday to keep fighting for his candidacy. Some were even working on Sunday morning, preparing for the morning shows, and heading back to Wilmington for the week.

Kamala Harris steps up

On Sunday, before he made his decision public, Biden called up Kamala Harris, his vice president, telling her of his announcement to drop his re-election bid.

It is reported that shortly after receiving the news, the vice president made a round of phone calls to several party leaders to ensure that she would face few obstacles in winning the party’s nomination. In addition to Biden’s support, she has, until now, won endorsements from former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, who was the party’s 2016 presidential nominee. Notably, former US president Barack Obama is yet to endorse the vice president.

But while Biden has endorsed her, not all share the same feeling within the Democratic Party. Some Democrats are worried over Harris’s ability to take on Trump and there are senior senators who even floated the idea of an open convention in August.

About that debate

Biden’s decision to drop out comes after that disaster of a debate on June 27. While debating with Donald Trump, the 81-year-old froze many times, mumbled incoherently — with many concluding that Biden had lost the plot.

Soon, calls came from within his party that he should step away from the race. They told him he couldn’t win. And the money was drying up from donors who felt that Biden’s health was a huge concern.

The pressure kept mounting with even bigger names such as Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and even Barack Obama putting pressure on Biden to quit the race. It was this that apparently changed the tide for Biden. From being defiant, it was reported that he became receptive about hearing arguments to dropping out of the race.

It seems that at the end the pressure worked and Biden has adhered to his party’s calls. But how will history view him? What about his legacy?

As one long-time Biden ally told NBC News: “Here is a man who has always talked about dignity. And what was happening to him in a very public setting was undignified. Where does the president go to get his dignity back?”

With inputs from agencies