President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, July 21, ending his bid for reelection following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about his fitness for office just four months before the election. (AP File Photo)

PARKERSBURG – President Joe Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election in November as both local Republican and Democratic officials react to the news that will change the presidential race in November.

Biden made the announcement Sunday afternoon.

In an announcement made through his office, Biden talked about what he felt America has achieved during his time in office.

Biden said it was “the greatest honor” of his life to serve as president.

He went on to say he felt it was in the best interest of his party and the country for him to stand down, saying he was going to concentrate on his presidential duties for the remainder of his term.

Biden is putting his support behind Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee.

Wood County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Fox said they are disappointed but they also want the president to do what is best for himself and his family, but their mission remains the same to elect a Democrat as president.

“We are 100 percent behind Kamala Harris,” Fox said. “That does not emanate from blind faith for whoever the Democrats run, but that is due to her experience as both vice president and a member of the Senate.”

The Wood County Democratic Party believes Harris will uphold the things that are near and dear to many West Virginians, like Social Security, Medicare, public school funding and infrastructure funding which has been going on all around Wood County and the surrounding area, Fox said.

“We still think we have a very strong candidate,” he said. “We are very excited to see who the vice presidential candidate will be.”

Although it could be a competitive nominating process at the Democratic Convention in Chicago next month, Fox believes everyone in the Democratic Party will end up supporting Harris.

Many people on both sides have treated the Trump-Biden race with indifference and are not really excited about either candidate due to a number of factors, Fox said.

“This has changed,” he said. “I think this might reinvigorate some voters.

“There is a feeling out there that polls can never truly show. The best poll of all happens on Nov. 5. That is the only poll we can really rely on. It is always interesting.”

He believes the needs of younger voters in their 20s and 30s nationwide may have an impact on how the race goes.

Wood County Republican Party Chairman Scot Heckert said there comes a time in everyone’s career when it is time to step down and step back.

“No one wants to step down, but there comes a time when it is time for you to step down,” he said.

He feels former President Donald Trump has a lot of momentum right now with a lot of people and how they are viewing the direction the country has been going in under Biden.

“I believe the Democratic Party wants to put someone in there they feel has a chance of beating Trump,” Heckert said.

Heckert said he does not feel there is a “Republican-Democrat problem” in the United States, but a “moral, ethical, accountability and responsibility problem.”

As far as a possible Trump vs. Harris match-up in November, he said Trump is the favored candidate.

“After the failed assassination attempt and the fact the country is worse off than it has ever been, I don’t think anyone can beat Trump,” Heckert said. “That is really the consensus of the Republican Party, not just mine.”

Washington County Democratic Chairman Willa O’Neill said Sunday afternoon after the announcement was made she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

“I voted for Joe Biden in the primary,” she said. “I think he has done an outstanding job as president.

“I don’t think he has been given nearly the credit he has been due for the things he has managed to accomplish, especially with the divided Congress.”

One thing has been the ARPA funds spent throughout the US in and in Marietta, she said adding many Republicans have taken credit for some of the things that have happened as a result of those funds being made available through the Biden Administration even though many in the Republican Party voted against it.

She pointed to bi-partisan legislation he helped work out to deal with illegal immigration at the border, but when Trump needed the issue to campaign on, he told House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans to vote against it.

“I think his work with NATO has been the most important,” O’Neill said. “It is our allies we rely on and they rely on us.

“I think he has been a transformational president. His legacy, in the long run, will be very good.”

Biden is encouraging the party to get behind Harris as the eventual nominee.

“If Kamala is our nominee, I will certainly do everything I can to support her or whoever the Democratic candidate is,” O’Neill said. “There is so much at stake in this election that not winning scares me as to what will happen as a result if the Democrats don’t win this election.”

In a statement posted on the Washington County Republican Party Facebook page, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex M. Triantafilou said Biden’s decision to withdraw from the election while remaining in office is one of the reasons people are distrustful of his administration.

“If Joe Biden is not fit to be President in January, he is not fit to be president today,” Triantafilou said in the statement.

“Donald Trump and JD Vance will win this November and they will save this country, they will reverse Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ historic failures on addressing rampant inflation and the rising cost of living, the immigration crisis and out-of-control crime.”

Triantafilou also urged Biden to step down now.