Reaction to President Biden's exit split along party lines
AP file photo by Saul Loeb President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, March 1, 2022, in Washington. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about his fitness for office just four months before the election.
Louisiana Democratic National Convention delegate Richard Anderson, of Ruston, said Sunday he’s backing Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential nominee now that President Biden has pulled out of the race.
“My intention is to go to Chicago and support Harris,” Anderson said.
Anderson is one of five delegates from the Lincoln Parish-inclusive 5th Congressional District. The convention is Aug. 19-23 in Chicago.
Biden announced his decision to abandon his reelection bid in a letter posted early Sunday after on X, former Twitter. Biden had been under mounting pressure to withdraw from the race after his poor debate performance against now GOP nominee former President Donald Trump in June, and increasing questions about his physical and mental health.
Reaction to the president’s decision was predictably partisan, with Democrats praising Biden’s presidency, and Republicans saying his exit was overdue.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, from Louisiana, said Biden should resign. “If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president. He must resign the office immediately,” Johnson said in a statement.
“At this unprecedented juncture in American history, we must be clear about what just happened. The Democrat Party forced the Democrat nominee off the ballot, just over 100 days before the election,” Johnson said. “Having invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans who selected Joe Biden to be the Democrat nominee for president, the self-proclaimed ‘party of democracy’ has proven exactly the opposite.”
Johnson called Harris “a completely inept border czar” who he said has been a “gleeful accomplice” in what he alleges was a cover up about Biden’s ability to serve. “She has known for as long as anyone of his incapacity to serve,” Johnson’s statement said.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Biden’s decision was long overdue, while House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, of New Orleans, also said Democrats have been covering up the president’s fitness.
Gov. Jeff Landry, is a post on X, said it didn’t matter whether Biden ran on not. That’s because former President Donald Trump is “running to correct the failed policies of the Left … that Landry believes would be championed by any Democratic replacement.
Meantime, Lincoln Parish Democratic Party Executive Committee Chairman Lawrence Higginbotham said he’s saddened by Biden’s departure for the race. “I think he’s been a good president but I understand there are health issues involved,” he said. “I know he wants it. I know he wants to stay in there. I know it was a hard decision to make,” Higginbotham said.
But he said he respect’s Biden’s decision. Higginbotham said he thinks Harris as a good chance in the race. DNC delegate Anderson said Biden has had a “wonderful” career. Anderson said he met Biden at the 2008 and 20216 national conventions. “He’s a down-to-earth good fellow, a good ole regular Joe,” Anderson said.
