WILMINGTON — All eyes have turned to Delaware after President Joe Biden announced he was ending his re-election campaign via statement on Sunday afternoon, surprising many Democratic Party officials and his staff.
Shortly after he issued a letter on the decision released on X, formerly known as Twitter, Biden formally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for presidency. If she secures the nomination, she will go onto to face former President Donald Trump at the polls.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote.
“For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to those who worked so hard to see me re-elected,” he continued. “I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me.”
Several national outlets, including the New York Times, reported that the decision was made with little to no notice to his White House or re-election campaign staff while Biden recovered from his third bout of COVID-19 and remained isolated at his second home in Rehoboth Beach.
Harris, 59, a Democrat from California, was one of the first three people the president told in a phone call. Within hours, the Biden-Harris campaign pivoted to rally around the vice president. In less than 24 hours, the Harris campaign raised $81 million as staffers work to transition the Biden-Harris war chest of roughly $96 million.
Harris was scheduled to make prepared comments on the White House lawn on Monday morning, but quickly added a stop to Wilmington to visit the Biden campaign staff at their headquarters. Wilmington city officials were notified of the schedule change early on Monday. Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki greeted her on the tarmac of Delaware’s New Castle Air National Guard Base, along with Gov. John Carney, U.S. Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper (D-Del.), Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Delaware Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock, and Delaware National Guard Major General Michael Berry.
While Harris expected to arrive in Wilmington this afternoon, scores of staffers gathered at the campaign offices downtown.
Purzycki, who will also end his last term in office this year, has known Biden for many years, and said he was personally grateful for his years of friendship. He said that while the decision to step aside from a potential second term was surprising to some, it was “very much in line with the Joe Biden that I know and respect.”
“We have been proud to host the President and his entire reelection team over this past year. Wilmington was given the opportunity to shine on the international stage and show the world just how special our little city is,” Purzycki said. “As we welcome the Kamala Harris campaign to town today, we will continue to stand with Joe as he spends these last few months working tirelessly to improve the lives of everyday Americans, and we look forward to welcoming him back home in January.”
Roughly one year ago, Biden chose to locate the headquarters for his re-election campaign in downtown Wilmington. He has been no stranger to the First State, as he has regularly made weekend trips to his home in Greenville and “Beau’s Promise,” his vacation home close to Rehoboth Beach. He has spent close to 254 days in Delaware in the first three years of his presidency as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
While the president stayed at those homes, he attended many services at local Catholic parishes. He, his wife and family have also visited many Delaware restaurants over the years like beach restaurants Egg and Matt’s Fish Camp at the beach and Wilmington hot spots Banks Seafood Kitchen and The Quoin.
The Biden-Harris Campaign has a sprawling infrastructure already built that may easily coalesce behind the vice president. Coons (D-Del.), the co-chair of Biden’s re-election committee, told reporters this morning that Biden has roughly 200 offices across the country and more than 1,000 staffers. Major decisions are expected to be made out of the Wilmington headquarters which includes offices for the Democratic National Committee.
It’s unclear how many staffers work out of Wilmington, but the campaign had been hiring consistently for communications jobs in the past year. As of Monday afternoon, the Biden Harris campaign had job listings for at least 15 jobs for on-site roles in Wilmington.
In the meantime, the campaign has already locked in multimillion-dollar media buys like commercials and social media campaigns with reshoots likely to happen in the near future, Coons told reporters on the press call.
Over the years, Delaware has enjoyed the spotlight as Biden has made repeated visits and essentially ran his 2020 campaign out of Wilmington due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down the country for months. He held many press conferences and taped interviews out of the Queen in 2020 and the Chase Center at the Riverfront quickly moved to host the Democratic National Convention that year.
With the “Live from Wilmington, Del.” banner on television screens all over the world that year, Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Jennifer Boes noted that the “Biden effect” has built up momentum to create a boom of tourism attention on the region.
“It’s certainly had a positive impact on [the region], beginning when he announced his candidacy in the spring of 2019,” Boes told the Delaware Business Times. “Wilmington, Del. has been in the news nationally and internationally almost daily since then, and that has generated interest among a much wider audience than we have ever been able to reach with our own marketing efforts before. You cannot put a price tag on that kind of exposure.”
Boes noted that many people became curious about the president’s hometown, drawing national media outlets, like CNN, Travel + Leisure and the Times of London. Her office worked to capitalize on that as early as 2019, with an itinerary of Biden’s favorite places to eat and visit.
“I think the Biden effect will continue to generate interest in our region as a destination well into the future,” she said. “President Biden has a long and distinguished political career and strong connections to our state. Like the U.S. Presidents that served before him, he has helped shape our history and our future. People will want to come walk in his footsteps and experience the places that influenced and continue to influence his life and career.”
