The field of candidates vying for the nation’s highest office in 2024 is shrinking. Of 20 Republican, Democratic and independent candidates who had been pursuing the parties’ nominations in 2024, only eight remain.
But the race hasn’t narrowed quite as dramatically as one Feb. 15 social media post suggested.
“2024 Presidential Candidate Abruptly DROPS OUT — ‘I’m Done,’” read text above pictures of the two leading candidates: incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner.
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
People who encountered the post might have believed Biden or Trump dropped out of the race. That’s False.
(Screenshot from Facebook.)
Both Trump and Biden were still running for president when the post was published Feb. 15, and that remained true when this article was published Feb. 16.
On Feb. 14, Trump held a campaign rally in South Carolina, 10 days ahead of the state’s Republican primary. Biden’s reelection campaign released a new campaign ad Feb. 16.
The Facebook user who posted the image shared a link in the comments to a story on the website Conservative Brief. The preview for that link seemed to again claim that one of the leading candidates had exited the race.
(Screenshot from Facebook)
Clicking the link showed the article was about self-help author Marianne Williamson, who had been running for president as a Democrat. “Marianne Williamson has suspended her 2024 presidential campaign, leaving President Joe Biden with one challenger in the Democratic primary,” the article read. (The remaining Biden challenger is Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn.)
Williamson said Feb. 7 she was suspending her campaign.
We rate the claim that Biden or Trump dropped out of the race False.