After a much criticized and first debate not decisive With Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and subsequent calls from leading Democrats to abandon a second term, US President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he will not stand for re-election in the 2024 presidential election.
“While it was my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country to step down and focus on fulfilling the duties of my president for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in a statement. “I will speak to the nation more fully about my decision later this week.”
Although he will not seek re-election, Biden could still use the months he has left in office before the November 5 election and before the inauguration of the next president on January 20, 2025, to implement all technology and financial policy measures still on his agenda.
In his final months in office, Biden is likely to continue his efforts to cancel student debt, but the courts are likely to block the relief. Other executive efforts have been similarly challenged by judges. Biden has also focused during his presidency on ending junk fees in the travel, entertainment and banking industries.
One of the most significant tech efforts Biden has been involved in in recent years is banning TikTok in the U.S. After signing the ban in April 2024, he is unlikely to reverse the policy.
In addition to Biden’s direct efforts, since his inauguration in January 2021, his administration has overseen massive amounts of congressionally approved funding that flowed to American businesses, state and local governments, and citizens to recover from the pandemic and expand America’s infrastructure. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the $5.5 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2022 sent money back to Americans, including a combined $90 billion to improve broadband internet across the country.
During his tenure, government regulators continued to advocate for the technological needs of consumers. The Federal Communications Commission restored net neutrality, quadrupled the baseline broadband speed that internet providers must provide to customers, and began requiring broadband “nutrition labels” to make internet subscriptions easier to understand. The Federal Trade Commission cracked down on robocalls, leading a 17-state lawsuit against Amazon for its anti-competitive monopoly.
The CEOs of social media giants Twitter, Facebook and Google were also questioned in congressional hearings during the Biden administration about misinformation about the COVID pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. Taking a tough approach to child safety in the age of social media has also been an emphasis during Biden’s presidency.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally on July 13.
Who Could Replace Joe Biden as the Democratic Presidential Nominee?
After announcing he would not seek re-election, Biden also took the opportunity to Vice President Kamala Harris endorsesbut there are other potential candidates, such as front-runners who ran against Biden and Harris in the primaries leading up to the 2020 election.
Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have not yet indicated whether they will run, but both were prominent Democrats who ran for the nomination four years ago, as was Pete Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary in the Biden administration. Part of Warren’s campaign in the last election was to break up Big Tech, with Sanders making similar statements about monopolistic tech companies.
But in 2024, other prominent Democrats include California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has publicly promoted state policies like gun control criticized right-wing governors from other states and established a political action committee for fundraising specifically to counter GOP governors and leaders, according to The Hill. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is another rising star in the party, though he may be more of a candidate for vice president, according to the Lexington news station WKYT.
More about who the next Democratic presidential nominee will be, and their platforms, will be revealed in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which runs from August 19 to 22. It is likely that his replacement will be formally chosen then.
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
