Prior to exiting the race, President Biden had identified only a few reasons he’d leave: his health, if advisers told him he couldn’t win, and if the Lord Almighty convinced him to quit. But in his address to the nation after his bombshell post on X announcing he was stepping aside, the president did not make it clear why he decided to leave the presidential race. Apart from noting that it’s time to “pass the torch to a new generation,” many were left with even more questions about what, or who, really forced him out following his widely panned June 27 debate.
In his first interview since bowing out of his re-election bid, Biden explained his decision further.
“The polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race, would have been down to the wire," he told Robert Costa on “CBS Sunday Morning.”
"But what happened was, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. You'd be interviewing me about 'Why did Nancy Pelosi say…' 'Why did so-and-so…' And I thought it'd be a real distraction, number one,” he continued.
"Number two, when I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition President,” Biden added. “I can't even say how old I am; it's hard for me to get it outta my mouth. But things got moving so quickly, it didn't happen."
Beyond those two factors, Biden said it’s still a “critical issue” to maintain “democracy.”
“I thought it was important,” he told Costa. “Because, although it's a great honor being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what [is] the most important thing you can do, and that is, we must, we must, we must defeat Trump."
Biden admits he was forced out of the race because Democrats thought he'd "hurt them in their races" pic.twitter.com/UJjrHeXEVl
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 11, 2024