Biden endorses Kamala Harris after dropping out of the race

• Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
• "It's time to come together and beat Trump," Biden said. "Let's do this."

Minutes after announcing his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, President Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination.

"My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it's been the best decision I've made," Biden wrote. "Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this."

The endorsement provides Harris a big boost, but it may not entirely stave off a convention fight in August.

Another Democratic candidate could seek to challenge Harris for the nomination, attempting to woo the party's more than 4,000 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Some politicians have explicitly called for that, including Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who earlier Sunday said he wanted to see an "open process" to determine the new nominee as he called for Biden to step aside.

An array of other Democrats had been viewed as contenders in the event Biden would step aside, including Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.

Such candidates, however, could also be in line to become Harris' running mate.

Several Democrats have already said they would like to see the party get behind Harris.

On Sunday, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado posted a coconut and palm tree emoji — a reference to the pro-Harris memes that have cropped up in recent weeks.