MEDFORD, Ore.- President Joe Biden announces he is ending his presidential election campaign just four months before Election Day.
“Americans should be paying attention now, if we weren’t before,” State Representative Pam Marsh said.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced his decision to drop out of the Presidential Election through a letter posted to X. In his letter, President Biden says he believes it’s in the best interest of his party and the country for him to step down. Local political leaders had mixed reactions.
“Well, it was surprise. I think the trends had been certainly strongly suggesting that this was going to be the outcome,” Marsh said.
“My initial reaction was relief. I think Joe Biden would lose an election now, almost whatever happens between now and November. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want Donald Trump as the next President to be partisan and frank about it,” State Senator Jeff Golden said.
“We were pretty sure that there were serious things challenging the President, that’s the way I’m going to put it, so it was not a big surprise.” Oregon Congressman Cliff Bentz said.
President Biden endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to step in as the Nominee for the Democratic Party in a later post. He says Harris has been an extraordinary partner. Golden, Marsh, and Bentz agree that Harris was the most likely choice for Biden.
“What else could he do? He was stuck and so, I’m sure he wouldn’t put it quite that way but that’s- it would’ve been very very awkward for him not to have endorsed her,” Bentz said.
“There seems to be a negative perception of her generally that I don’t quite understand, but I think her values are good, I think she’s smart. I think it would’ve been chaos and impossible to move forward had the party passed over her for somebody else,” Golden said.
“We voted for Harris when we voted for Biden. We’ve already validated her. I think she’s a very solid choice,” Marsh said.
Biden’s decision comes just weeks before the Democratic National Convention.
“There’s huge disarray in the Democratic party over who should be their candidate,” Bentz said.
“I think it’s not ideal, that’s why we have a system of primaries, but I think the time is very adequate. The Democratic Convention is still five weeks- five or six weeks away, so there’s plenty of time to put the convention together,” Marsh said.
The decision also follows former President Donald Trump’s assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13th, but political leaders feel like the writing was on the wall before that.
“The events that have happened in the other party may not have been the most important factors here. It really may be the introspection that is required when you’re making such a giant decision,” Marsh said.
“I think there’s going to be a bump in Former President Trump’s polling as a result of that truly, truly, truly unfortunate event and also because of the convention, those things may have weighed into [Biden’s] decision, but, frankly, I think it was probably his physical condition,” Bentz said.
“It seems to have solidified more support for the former President and made the task look even more daunting. [Biden] kept focusing his record the last four years and that’s not what’s relevant to people who are worried, it’s the next four years. And there was plenty more else, plenty more moving parts pointing to [Biden] taking himself out of the race,” Golden said.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden also released a statement in part quote:
“I’ve been proud to work with President Biden on a record of Democratic successes these past 3 1/2 years… I’m all in to support Vice President Harris with all my energy to go forward building on that impressive record and defeating Donald Trump – a convicted felon who wants to yank America backward…”
President Biden says he plans to speak to the nation in the following days about this decision.
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