Biden says he was concerned staying in the race would be ‘a real distraction’

President Biden in a new interview offered his lengthiest explanation to date of why he opted not to seek reelection, citing concerns that it could negatively impact other Democrats running in November.

“The polls we had showed that it was a neck and neck race, would’ve been down to the wire,” Biden said on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

“But what happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races,” Biden continued. “And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. You’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say, why did … and I thought it’d be a real distraction, number one.”

Biden said the other factor was “maintaining this democracy,” arguing that defeating former President Trump was paramount.

The president announced July 21 that he would not seek reelection amid pressure from other Democrats to step aside following a disastrous debate performance against former President Trump.

Dozens of elected Democrats had urged Biden to pass the torch to another candidate, questioning whether he could defeat Trump in November.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has served with Biden for decades, has given multiple recent interviews in which she has disputed that she personally phoned the president to express her concerns. However, she had been critical of his political operation and said she acted as a sounding board for other lawmakers.

Polls showed Biden trailing Trump nationally. Battleground states he won in 2020, like Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, were drifting further out of reach, while must-win states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin were closely contested.

Biden backed Vice President Harris as the Democratic nominee upon dropping out, and she has quickly consolidated support within the party and electrified voters, drawing thousands of people to rallies in Detroit, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Las Vegas this week.

Polls have shown Harris has erased Trump’s polling lead, making it a neck and neck race both nationally and in battleground states.