Joe Biden steps down LIVE updates: US president resigns as Democratic presidential nominee, backs Kamala Harris as successor

If you’re just joining us, here’s what we know so far about President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the White House race.

• Biden issued a statement declaring it in the best interests of the Democratic Party and the country to pull out of the race for the White House.
• Biden will continue to serve the rest of his term as president. He will address the nation on his decision later in the week.
• Biden immediately threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him in the battle against Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump on November 5.
• Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump lashed Biden’s presidency on Truth Social, and told CNN he thought Harris would be even easier to defeat.
• Senior Democrats including Chuck Schumer, Dirk Durbin, Gavin Newsom and David Axelrod heaped praise on Biden’s decision to end his bid for re-election.

For the Democrats, replacing President Joe Biden is by no means a panacea, the antidote to the poison of Trumpism. A prime reason the president had decided to seek a second term – which went back on his pitch four years ago that he would be a transitional figure and a bridge to the next generation – was because he feared Kamala Harris could not beat Trump.

His 59-year-old vice-president, whom he crowned heir apparent within minutes of withdrawing, will confront racism and misogyny. Republicans are already blaming her for the immigration crisis and reminding voters that Joe Biden made her his “border tsar”.

Read more from former BBC Washington correspondent Nick Bryant here.

Hugh Kieve, 10, holds a sign outside the White House after Joe Biden said he wouldn’t contest the US election. Credit: AP

While Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be consolidating Democratic support, Senator Joe Manchin is said to be considering rejoining the party to vie for its presidential nomination.

Jonathan Kott, who previously served as Manchin’s communications director, said the senator was “seriously considering” running for president as a Democrat but did not share more information about his plans.

The senator, who turns 77 next month, was the first elected official to express interest in challenging Harris for the Democratic nomination.

Senator Joe Manchin is reportedly considering running for president. Credit: AP

Manchin would face an uphill battle if he were to proceed with a presidential bid. The senator left the Democratic Party in May to become an independent, and long irked his fellow Democrats by blocking major parts of President Joe Biden’s agenda and pursuing deals with Republicans.

Harris, 59, was endorsed by Biden minutes after he announced he would not seek re-election, and moved rapidly to rally key party members behind her bid. There’s little prospect that Manchin would be able to coax delegates pledged to Biden to defect from Harris.

One of Manchin’s first appearances will be a non-traditional one for someone who has indicated interest in a Democratic presidential run: he is sitting for an interview on conservative-leaning Fox News with host Bret Baier, Kott said.

With Bloomberg

What a morning!

Joe Biden’s decision to step down puts the 59-year-old Kamala Harris in a powerful position – albeit not guaranteed – to become the new generational face of the Democratic Party, which has spent the past few weeks in disarray ever since the president’s shocking debate performance.

Time, however, is running out. With only four months until election day, no sitting American president has dropped out of a race so late in the cycle.

Here’s our US correspondent Farrah Tomazin on the obstacles Vice President Kamala Harris must overcome to secure the Democratic nomination and then win the election.

Kamala Harris is the frontrunner to go up against Donald Trump.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

One of the strongest voices to support US President Joe Biden has today forcefully pledged to back Vice President Kamala Harris.

Progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who only this weekend warned against the forces pushing for Biden to resign, has called support for Harris “crucial”.

Progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has forcefully pledged to back Kamala Harris.Credit: Bloomberg

“Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy.”

Ocasio-Cortez’ endorsement is significant, because as a younger, left-leaning Democrat, she has not shied away with clashes with the Democratic Party or its leadership. Her willingness to rally around Harris can be read as a signal for other like-minded progressives.

Only two days ago, Ocasio-Cortez had warned of the lack of consensus among people who wanted Biden and who would support Harris for president.

“There’s no safe option,” she had warned.

Independent senator Joe Manchin is weighing up whether to re-register as a Democrat as part of a potential bid to replace Joe Biden as a candidate, a source familiar with the matter said, according to Reuters.

A Manchin adviser told The Washington Post that the West Virginia senator was considering a tilt at the nomination. Such a move would make him the first challenger to Kamala Harris since Biden announced plans to not contest the 2024 presidential election.

Senator Joe Manchin will also run as an independent.Credit: AP

Manchin called on Biden to drop out of the race on Saturday (US time), adding his voice to those of about three dozen US lawmakers who were publicly saying it was time to find a new Democratic candidate.

“I come with a heavy heart to think the time has come for him to pass the torch to a new generation,” Manchin, who left the Democratic Party in May to register as an independent, said on ABC’s This Week.

He made similar comments on CNN’s State of the Union.

And US senator Elizabeth Warren has come out supporting Kamala Harris. Here’s some of what she said on X:

I’m endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris because she’s ready to step up, bring our party together, go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump and win in November.

Kamala has been a ferocious warrior on the issue of abortion. And under Kamala’s leadership, we’re going to get Roe vs Wade back into the law of the land.

But the part that’s fun to think about is, when you’re up against a convicted felon, who better than a former prosector to take it straight to Donald Trump?

She’s ready for this job, and she’s ready to win.”

Prominent Democrat Pete Buttigieg has pledged to help US Vice President Kamala Harris win the election in November and described President Joe Biden as “among the best and most consequential presidents”.

The Transport Secretary on Sunday tweeted that Americans were much better off because of Biden’s leadership and accomplishments.

Buttigieg said on social media platform X that Harris was “the right person to take up the torch, defeat Donald Trump, and succeed Joe Biden as President”.

“I have seen her extraordinary leadership firsthand, working closely with her during the 2020 campaign and then in the historically effective Biden-Harris administration. I will do all that I can to help her win this election to lead America forward as our next President.”

US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has backed Kamala Harris. .Credit: Bloomberg

Buttigieg recently described Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance as someone who said whatever he needed to get ahead, and likened him to Mike Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president.

“I actually watched this exact same process with somebody else I got to know in my days in the Midwest, which is my former governor Mike Pence, who I watched start out as an evangelical Christian who cared about rectitude, family values, and then get on board with a guy [Trump] who was mixed up with a porn star, make excuses for him, so he could have power.

“And he did: he got four glorious years, I guess, as vice president of the United States,” Buttigieg told TV host Bill Maher.

“And it ended on the west front of the Capital with Trump supporters proposing that he be hanged for using the one shred of integrity he still had to stand up to an attempt to overthrow the government.

“So I guess maybe not as a politician but as a human being, what I’ll say is that I hope things work out better for J.D. Vance than it did for Mike Pence.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says US President Joe Biden deserves to be recognised for putting the interests of the nation first in stepping down.

“He is someone who, in January, will be able to retire from public life with an extraordinary record,” Albanese said in Cairns on Monday.

He went on to list Biden’s achievements, including AUKUS and the Inflation Reduction Act, which he described as the “most significant piece of legislation to reduce emissions introduced anywhere in the world”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

He also spoke of Biden’s commitment to stability in the Indo-Pacific, and support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Last year the prime minister visited Biden in Washington, where, he said, “President Biden and [his wife] Jill Biden were gracious hosts at an official state dinner.

“President Biden deserves today to be recognised for, once again, not putting himself forward first, but giving his first consideration to being what he believes is in the interests of the United States of America, as he’s done his whole public life,” Albanese said.

Californian Governor Gavin Newsom has endorsed Kamala Harris in her bid to replace Joe Biden as the Democrats’ presidential candidate.

Newsom, who had been staunchly defensive of Biden’s decision to run again, had earlier tweeted praise for the president’s decision to now stand down.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and US Vice President Kamala Harris.Credit: AP, Bloomberg

The Californian governor, who has a national profile and is openly considering running in 2028, had been seen as a potential rival to Harris as the candidate.

But he has repeatedly said he would not challenge her if she sought the nomination and has now endorsed her, describing her as “Tough. Fearless. Tenacious.”

“With our democracy at stake and our future on the line, no one is better to prosecute the case against Donald Trump’s dark vision and guide our country in a healthier direction than America’s Vice President, @KamalaHarris”.

After President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal as the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for the November election, expectations have turned towards Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place.

The 59-year-old former prosecutor and senator, if she wins in November, would become the first female president of the United States.

US Vice President Kamala Harris in South Korea in 2022.Credit: Bloomberg

So, who is Harris and what are her achievements? And why is there criticism against her? Digital foreign editor Chris Zappone explains here.