President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he is dropping his reelection bid against Donald Trump, in a social media post that sent political shockwaves around the country and threw an element of turmoil into the election just months before voters go to the polls.
Biden's decision came on the heels of a poor debate performance that prompted many rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers to urge him to withdraw from the race. The president said he will address the nation later this week “in more detail about my decision.”
Govs. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Laura Healy of Kansas, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Tim Walz of Minnesota are among Democrats who are praising Biden's record of public service. But they didn’t follow the president’s lead and endorse Harris as his successor.
Beshear said Biden will be remembered as a “consequential president” who, with Harris, led the country through the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Walz, who heads the Democratic Governors Association, said “history will look fondly on his legacy.”
Healy said few could have “risen to the challenge” like Biden. The Massachusetts governor had issued a statement several weeks ago urging Biden to think hard about his campaign.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also praised Biden’s public service Sunday, saying on social media platform X that Biden “knows better than anyone what it takes to defeat Donald Trump."
“My job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families’ costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan,” she said.