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The stunning decision by U.S. President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race drew praise from Democratic lawmakers and criticism from Republicans who called on him to resign.
Biden announced his decision Sunday afternoon after weeks of speculation and increasing calls from within his own party to step aside following a disastrous debate performance last month against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination.
"Joe Biden has not only been a great president and a great legislative leader, but he is a truly amazing human being. His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Sunday. "Joe, today shows you are a true patriot and great American."
Schumer, along with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, had reportedly been working behind the scenes to encourage Biden not to seek the nomination, citing polling numbers showing Biden was running behind in several key battleground states. In recent days, Democratic senators facing tough reelection campaigns in Ohio, Montana and West Virginia called on the president to step aside for fear his presence on the ticket would damage their chances.
"President Joe Biden is a patriotic American who has always put our country first. His legacy of vision, values and leadership make him one of the most consequential Presidents in American history," Pelosi said in a statement Sunday.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal said in a statement that Biden has been "the most progressive and effective president on domestic and economic policy in my lifetime."
Jayapal outlined the stakes of the upcoming election, writing "at a time when Donald Trump and Republicans have stripped away women's reproductive freedoms, we will respond by finally electing the first woman to the presidency."
Republican lawmakers continued their criticism of Biden's mental and physical acuity and suggested the president's decision invalidated the voters' will.
"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," Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said in a statement.
"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. The party's prospects are no better now with Vice President Kamala Harris, who co-owns the disastrous policy failures of the Biden Administration."
And Elise Stefanik, a member of the House Republican leadership, went a step further.
"If Joe Biden can't run for reelection, he is unable and unfit to serve as President of the United States. He must immediately resign. The Democrat party is in absolute free fall for their corrupt attempt to cover up the fact that Joe Biden is unfit for office," she said in a statement Sunday.
Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee which has worked closely with the Biden-Harris campaign, told VOA's Georgian service that it's unclear if there will be a formal nomination process with the Democratic National Committee, which oversees the convention.
"There may or may not be a formal process where other [candidates] could jump in. My prediction is that nobody else would jump in, because so many people want to unify right now and do so and do so enthusiastically around Vice President Kamala Harris," he said.
For many Democrats, Sunday was a day to remember Biden's lifetime of public service. He served as a U.S. senator from 1973 to 2009 and then as President Barack Obama's vice president from 2009 to 2017.
"Joe has never backed down from a fight," Obama said in a statement. "For him to look at the political landscape and decide that he should pass the torch to a new nominee is surely one of the toughest in his life. But I know he wouldn't make this decision unless he believed it was right for America."
Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who had expressed doubts about Biden's campaign but stopped short of calling on him to resign, said in a statement, "This nation owes Joe Biden a debt of gratitude for putting everything on hold to run in 2020 and taking the reins as President during a particularly turbulent time. He charted a bright path forward for our nation after four tumultuous years under the former administration."