Biden drops out of presidential race

President Joe Biden will end his re-election campaign, he announced Sunday, dropping out of the race amid Democrats' deepening conviction that the 81-year-old could not win a second term and would sink the party's fortunes in November.

Democrats have been calling for Biden to step aside since a politically disastrous debate performance against Republican Donald Trump on June 27 that raised immediate questions about the president's cognitive ability and fitness to serve another four-year term.

The outlook for the Democratic ticket in November remains murky as the party prepares for its convention in Chicago, which will run Aug. 19-22.

Biden's exit from the presidential race is historic, marking the first time a sitting president eligible for re-election has left a race since Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson bowed out of the 1968 campaign due to the unpopularity of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," Biden said in a statement posted to X on Sunday. "And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, 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."

Biden traveled to Las Vegas recently to reach out to Black and Latino constituencies, which traditionally have supported him. He spoke at the NAACP annual convention Tuesday 16 but canceled his scheduled Wednesday speech at the UnidosUS convention after testing positive for COVID-19.

Nevada Democrats had backed the president amid calls for him to end his campaign and yield to another nominee, with congressional members who face tougher re-election bids distancing themselves.

During his campaign for re-election, the president and his supporters touted his administration's accomplishments, from pushing forward the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - which spends $550 billion over five years on roads, bridges, mass transit and water infrastructure - to the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice, to capping the cost of insulin to $35 for seniors.

But Biden faced many challenges in his presidency as well. He had low approval ratings, especially in the purple swing state of Nevada, where Trump leads in poll after poll. He received major criticism for his withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, which led to the deaths of 13 American servicemembers and 200 Afghans. He failed to complete a main campaign promise to cancel student loan debt. His critics have blamed him for high gasoline and grocery prices, and for the increase in migrants coming across the southern border.