The Biden-Harris campaign took little time to officially drop President Biden from its namesake Sunday, filing paperwork kicking the president off the ticket just hours after the 81-year-old went public with his political-earthquake of a decision to withdraw from the 2024 race.
In a filing with the Federal Election Commission, the campaign asked to rename itself to “Harris for President” and designated the Harris Victory Fund and the Harris Action Fund as its joint fundraising committees.
“Vice President Harris is now a candidate for United States President in the 2024 election and will henceforth be conducting campaign activities only in pursuit of that office. This committee’s Statement of Organization and the Statement of Candidacy are being amended accordingly,” her team wrote in a notice.
The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- Biden drops out of presidential race after Democratic revolt following disastrous debate: ‘Best interest of the country’
- Biden drops out of presidential race: live updates
- Trump slams Biden as ‘worst president in history’ after incumbent drops re-election bid
- Biden offers ‘full endorsement’ of Kamala Harris as 2024 Democratic nominee after dropping out
- A look back at Biden’s more than 50-year career in politics
The name change filing came shortly after Biden’s endorsement of Harris to become the Democratic Party’s standard bearer.
Harris has affirmed that her “intention is to earn and win this nomination.”
The campaign ended June with just under $96 million cash on hand, per FEC filings. When combined with allied commitments and the Democratic National Committee, that jumps to over $240 million.
Republicans had hinted that they might try to mount legal challenges in a bid to stymie Harris from tapping into that monster war chest or complicate efforts to change the names on the ballots.
“Every state has its own system, and in some of these, it’s not possible to simply just switch out a candidate,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
Biden had been poised to be named the party’s presidential nominee in a virtual roll call over the coming weeks, ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from Aug. 19-22.
It remains unclear whether any prominent Democrat will challenge Harris for the nomination.
What to know about President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- President Biden announced Sunday he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race — after weeks of prominent Democrats and donors calling on him to withdraw following his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate.
- In a letter posted on X Sunday afternoon, Biden admitted that it is in the “best interest of my party and country” for him to step down as the Democratic nominee.
- Biden wrote that he intends to serve out the remainder of his term and will address the country on his decision later this week.
- In a follow-up X post, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the suddenly open Democratic nomination. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” the president wrote.
- Former President Donald Trump reacted to the news by labeling Biden the “worst president in the history of our country” in a call with CNN.
Endorsements for her have already been rolling in across the Democratic Party, as many top politicians on the left fear a contested convention could leave their party divided before the Nov. 5 election.
Meanwhile, the White House has indicated that Biden plans to serve out the remainder of his term in office, which ends in January.
“He looks forward to finishing his term and delivering more historic results for the American people,” White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. “He’ll keep fighting to protect Americans’ freedoms from radical abortion bans and attacks on the rule of law.”