Decision 2024
Pennsylvania politicians react to President Biden campaign exit
The decision by the president shakes the battleground state’s political landscape and denizens.
President Joe Biden SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
In the span of one 23-line memo, President Joe Biden upended the 2024 race to become the next leader of the free world.
In a move that seemed both unthinkable and inevitable – and which followed pledges of support made just hours earlier by the state chairs of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona – Biden announced on Sunday that he would no longer seek the Democratic nomination for president.
While the Democratic Party, the nation and the world digest the significance and implications of scrambling to find a new candidate just 106 days before Election Day – Biden subsequently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris – reactions to his decision have been making the rounds on social media. Below is a sampling:
Gov. Josh Shapiro:
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey:
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle:
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio:
U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans:
State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta:
State Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa:
Philadelphia Democratic City Committee Chair and former U.S. Rep. Bob Brady:
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey:
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, via emailed statement:
“Since President Biden took office, America knew that he was enfeebled and incapable of the rigors of the highest office in the Land, not to mention the grueling demands on him as the leader of the free world,” Perry said in a statement. “I lament that the American People were ever subjected to this. The democratic process of selecting a presidential candidate is being wilfully discarded – by design – for the sake of their power and power alone."
Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair and state Sen. Sharif Street:
State House Majority Leader Matt Bradford: