President Joe Biden said he believed he’d made the right decision ending his reelection bid in a call with campaign workers on Monday, saying the mission “hasn’t changed at all” now that he had endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee.
“I want people to remember that what we have done has been incredible,” the president told campaign workers in Wilmington, Delaware, during a surprise call. “Embrace her, she’s the best. I know yesterday’s news is surprising, and it’s hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do.”
“I know it’s hard because you’ve poured your heart and soul into me,” Biden added. “But … I think we’ve made the right decision.”
Harris officially launched her bid for the Democratic nomination on Monday following the president’s announcement a day prior that he was ending his bid amid concerns about his age and ability to challenge Donald Trump in November. Her campaign has gone stratospheric over the past 24 hours, with lawmakers across the country throwing their weight behind her.
The Harris campaign said it had raised a record-breaking $81 million since she announced her bid, a needed jolt to the Democratic Party following Trump’s own mammoth fundraising hauls.
Harris unleashed her own rebuke of Trump during a speech at the Delaware campaign headquarters on Monday, saying her record as a prosecutor had prepared her to challenge “perpetrators of all kinds.”
“In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds — predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain,” she said. “So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”
Biden stressed on Monday that he would continue his work during the last six months of his presidency, determined “to get as much done as I can.” That included efforts to address climate change and end the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, he said.
“Now the name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all,” the president said. “I’m not going anywhere, I’m going to be working like hell both as a sitting president, as well as campaigning.”