Biden drops out of re-election campaign, endorses VP Kamala Harris

US President Joe Biden announced the end of his re-election campaign on Sunday, stating: "It is in the best interest of my party and the country."

This decision throws the Democratic nomination into uncertainty just months before the November election against former president Donald Trump.

"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 focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term," said the ailing president in a post on X. 

Biden's statement comes as Democrats have lost faith in his mental acuity and ability to beat Donald Trump, leaving his party afraid that they could lose the election.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has called on Biden to resign following the statement. 

"If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president," he wrote on X.

"He must resign the office immediately," Johnson added, going on to say that polling day, 5 November, "cannot arrive soon enough".

In his letter, Biden thanked Vice President Kamala Harris but did not endorse her. However, he followed up a few minutes later with an expression of support.

'Full support and endorsement for Kamala'

"Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats - it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this," he said in a follow-up post on X. 

"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. 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," he added. 

Biden stated that he will remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025.

By withdrawing from the re-election race, he clears the way for Harris to run for office. However, this move also puts the party in uncharted territory. 

Biden's announcement follows a wave of public and private pressure from Democratic lawmakers and party officials to quit the race after his shockingly poor performance in a televised debate last month against Republican rival Trump.

Biden exhibited clear lapses in memory more recently at a Nato summit - invoking Russian President Vladimir Putin's name when he meant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and calling Harris "Vice President Trump" which only further stoked anxieties amongst Democratic Party leaders.

Only four days before Sunday's announcement, Biden was diagnosed with Covid-19 for a third time, forcing him to cut short a campaign trip to Las Vegas. More than one in 10 congressional Democrats had called publicly for him to quit the race.

Biden's historic move - he is the first sitting president to give up his party's nomination for re-election since President Lyndon Johnson in March 1968 - leaves his replacement with less than four months to wage a campaign.

Harris, 59, would become the first Black woman to run at the top of a major party ticket in the country's history.

It is unclear whether other senior Democrats would challenge Harris for the party's nomination.