President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he is stepping out of the race for reelection. This follows a disastrous debate performance three weeks ago that spurred high-level calls from his own party to step aside.
In a letter posted on X on Sunday, Biden put an end to rumors and speculation that have been swirling since the debate on June 27. He also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” the statement said.
The National Housing Conference (NHC) released a statement shortly after Biden withdrew from the race.
“President Joe Biden has been the most outspoken and passionate presidential voice for affordable rental housing and homeownership in 60 years,” NHC president and CEO David Dworkin said. “From his Inaugural Address to his last State of the Union he has advocated housing policies intended to restore the American Dream and help those most in need.
“On some of these issues, NHC has been a strong advocate, on others we have expressed constructive concerns. We look forward to engaging with all candidates to address the nation’s housing crisis and look forward to working with whomever wins in November.”
The Republicans just wrapped up their convention, formally nominating former president Donald Trump and vice president J.D. Vance to lead the party less than a week after Trump survived an assassination attempt. The Democrats will hold their convention in just under a month and the question now is whether delegates at that convention pledged to Biden will transfer seamlessly to Harris or whether there will be a “mini-primary” for other candidates.
The election takes place in 106 days and both parties are working to shore up votes amid a wild election cycle.
At HousingWire, we’re focused on how the election could impact the housing market and those working in it. To that end, we’re looking at how each party could approach:
- Potential leaders at the Federal Reserve, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice.
- Regulation and enforcement of housing issues. This includes appraisal bias, fair lending concerns, the role of Realtors and more.
- The continued conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
- Economic policies that impact housing, including tariffs, taxes and incentives to build more housing.
There’s a lot at stake in this election for those in mortgage, real estate, title, appraisal, homebuilding, investing and housing policy. Our goal is to provide the full picture of news and information on housing-specific topics you won’t see anywhere else.
We’ll be publishing several features this week on former and current housing leaders who are influential in each party. We’ll also continue our close coverage of the National Association of Realtors‘ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlements, federal incentives to spur homeownership and more.
Need a primer on some of the election-related issues above? Here’s some of our recent coverage:
- CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on junk fees, the new AVM rule and more
- Mark Calabria on housing and GSE conservatorship under Trump 2.0
- What’s the DOJ’s endgame in NAR commission lawsuit settlements? Analysts weigh in
- U.S. Treasury launches initiatives to boost housing supply
- Five federal agencies finalize new guidance for appraisal reconsiderations
- Logan Mohtashami on presidential housing topics, inflation and more
Editor’s note: This story was updated with comments from the National Housing Conference.
