President Joe Biden has pulled out of the US presidential race after months of speculation.
But what happens next and who could replace him as nominee?
FactCheck takes a look.
Why has Joe Biden withdrawn from the presidential race?
Mr Biden remains the current US president, but he won’t be running for re-election for a second term.
In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), Mr Biden said it had been the “greatest honour of my life to serve as your president”.
But he added: “While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term”.
This comes after months of speculation about his age and fitness to run for another four years, amid a number of gaffes and a poor debate performance.
What happens next?
Mr Biden plans to serve the remainder of his term in office – which ends at noon on 20 January 2025.
He said in his statement that he would address the nation later this week to provide “detail” about his decision to withdraw from the presidential race.
A new nominee will be selected to replace Mr Biden in the race, which is likely to happen at the Democratic National Convention, which starts on 19 August.
Dr Christopher Phelps, associate professor of American Studies at the University of Nottingham, told FactCheck that a candidate pulling out of the presidential race “has happened before, but never at a point in time this close to the party’s convention”.
Mr Biden had already won 3,896 pledged delegates during Democratic primary contests, but Dr Phelps explained that Mr Biden “has now released all his delegates” by pulling out of the race.
This means it will now be up to them to decide which candidate they are backing as the Democratic nominee during the party’s convention next month.
But if the Democratic Party did not come together to back Ms Harris, there would be an open convention for the first time since 1968 – when Lyndon B. Johnson pulled out.
This would mean that delegates would be free to decide who to vote for among multiple candidates (if they emerge).
There would be an initial round of voting among the 3,896 pledged delegates, but if no candidate receives a majority of votes after this first round, then more rounds of voting would take place until a nominee is chosen.
Who could replace Joe Biden as Democratic Party nominee?
Mr Biden has backed his current vice president, Kamala Harris, to take his place as the Democratic Party’s nominee.
He said on X: “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.”
Political action committee ActBlue announced that the Democratic Party had received 46.7 million US dollars in fundraising in the seven hours after Mr Biden’s statement.
A number of people have been rumoured to be potential candidates, including California governor Gavin Newsom, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, but they’ve all now backed Ms Harris to be the new nominee.
Dr Phelps told FactCheck that “many other Democrats from all wings of the party” have also endorsed Ms Harris, and said she will “almost certainly” get the nomination, with “multiple factors in her favour”, including that the money Mr Biden gathered in fundraising would be easily transferred to her.
Ms Harris would then get to pick her vice presidential nominee if she was nominated to run in the election, and would be running against former US president and Republican candidate Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Gagik Arutyunyan/Shutterstock)
