(CP) President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he wouldn’t seek reelection just weeks ahead of the Democratic National Convention. He became the primary president to make such a call while in office since Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1968.
In a statement posted to his X account on Sunday, Biden said he had “decided not to just accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the rest of my term.”
Biden went on to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination, claiming that his choosing her to be his running mate in 2020 was “the perfect decision I’ve made.”
Biden’s announcement has garnered a big selection of reactions from political and spiritual leaders from diverse ideological backgrounds, starting from those focused on his legacy to those looking forward.
Here are five reactions from Christian leaders and activists to the news that Biden won’t seek reelection several months after states held their primaries:
Michael Wear, an evangelical activist and writer who formerly worked within the Obama administration, took to his X account to reply to Biden’s announcement.
“I encourage people to really get clear on what you’re thinking that, what you think, without delay. You need not broadcast it,” Wear advised hours after the announcement was made.
“But don’t let the identical individuals who told you in February that it was silly to query Biden, after which told you in July that it was silly to not want Biden to step down, now inform you that it’s silly if you will have some questions on the subsequent thing they’re planning on doing.”
Wear concluded by saying that “[w]hat must be clear without delay is that nobody knows what to do on this moment.”
Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and host of “The Briefing” podcast, addressed the announcement of Biden in an episode of his podcast.
“Well, you are going to remember yesterday. It’s going to be considered one of those days etched into the American historical memory, particularly as related to presidential elections,” Mohler said.
“The announcement that got here yesterday was a bolt out of the blue, and the indications of which are that members of the administration itself had been a minimum of engaging the press as late as Sunday morning insisting that the president was not going to withdraw from the race.”
Mohler believed that “Joe Biden hitched his wagon to a really liberal trend, a liberal ideology” and that “if indeed Kamala Harris is the subsequent nominee, you are talking about an unlimited leap to the left when it comes to political ideology.”
The Rev. William J. Barber II, a progressive activist and leader of the Poor People’s Campaign, took to social media to specific support for Vice President Kamala Harris following the announcement.
“When a President steps down, the VP steps up. If Dems can give attention to agenda to deal with poverty, low wages, access to healthcare, women’s & voting rights, VP Harris can unite & energize a broad electorate,” he tweeted.
Barber later added that hundreds of thousands of Americans “voted for Biden/Harris as one ticket—in 2020 & again in the first.”
“A Vice President exists to step in when a President steps down. Dems have to follow the succession plan that is in place or never complain again that their opponents undermine democracy,” he said.
Former Arkansas governor and former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee expressed his opinion on the Biden announcement via his X account.
“Biden bails out saying he is not in a position to be a candidate,” tweeted Huckabee. “But he thinks he’s in a position to still be President? I really imagine being President is harder than being candidate. Unless he really HASN’T been functioning as President anyway, which is not in the least comforting.”
Huckabee went on to label Biden the “Executive Chef” while Harris was “his pastry chef,” believing that “[g]etting him out of kitchen is tremendous however the food on the menu still makes you sick.”
David French, an Evangelical author and columnist with the New York Times who has been a longtime critic of former President Donald Trump and his supporters, took to Threads to provide his opinion on the announcement.
“This is selfless leadership. We’ve seen leaders put themselves over the country for too long. Trump is doing that without delay. Now it is time to seek out the candidate who can end Trump’s political profession,” he stated.
French also stated that he believed if Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the nominee “considered one of her first tasks will probably be dismantling the lies told on the Republican National Convention, including the lie that Trump was higher for law and order.”
He also posted an announcement from former governor and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, which commended Biden for his public service and wished him well.
