politics
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to turn into her party's nominee against Republican Donald Trump, based on an Associated Press poll. Leading Democrats joined her after President Joe Biden dropped his bid for re-election.
The quick rally behind Harris was an attempt by the party to place weeks of internal drama surrounding Biden's political future behind it and unite behind the duty of defeating Trump with just below 100 days to go before Election Day. Prominent Democratic officials, party leaders and political organizations quickly rallied behind Harris the day after Biden dropped out of the race, and her campaign set a brand new 24-hour record for presidential donations on Monday.
Several state delegations, including Texas and her home state of California, met late Monday night to reaffirm their support for Harris. As of Monday night, Harris had the support of at the least 2,579 delegates, based on the AP count, greater than the 1,976 delegates she must win on the primary ballot. A delegate contacted by AP didn’t name another candidate.
California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks said 75 to 80 percent of the state delegation participated in a conference call on Tuesday and unanimously supported Harris.
“I haven't heard anyone mention or call for another candidate,” Hicks said. “Tonight's vote was of great importance.”
Still, the AP just isn’t calling Harris the brand new presumptive nominee. That's because delegates to the party's convention in August are still free to vote for the candidate of their selection, or when Democrats hold a virtual roll call before that meeting in Chicago.
Concerns about Biden's fitness for office have been replaced by recent signs of unity following a large turnaround within the presidential campaign that has disrupted the 2 major political parties' fastidiously laid plans for the 2024 election.
Speaking to the campaign team in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris acknowledged that the previous few weeks had been a “roller coaster ride” but expressed her confidence in her recent campaign team.
“It is my intention to earn and win this nomination,” she said. She promised to “unite our Democratic Party, unite our nation and win this election.”
She quickly moved on to the problems that can play a central role in her campaign against Trump over the following 100 days. She compared her time as a prosecutor to Trump's capital convictions – “I know Donald Trump's types,” she said – and presented herself as a defender of economic opportunity and access to abortion.
“Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedom,” she said. “The baton is in our hands.”
The president joined the meeting from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he’s recovering from COVID-19, to pledge his support to Harris. He planned to elucidate his decision to resign in an address to the nation later this week.
“The name at the top of the ballot has changed, but the mission has not changed at all,” Biden said in his first public remarks since announcing his resignation, promising that he would “not go anywhere” and would campaign on Harris's behalf.
Biden said of his decision: “It was the right thing to do.”
As he handed the result in Harris, Biden added, “I'm watching you, boy. I love you.”
Harris was on her option to the swing state of Wisconsin on Tuesday, where her campaign for the White House is in full swing. The event in Milwaukee will probably be her first real campaign event since announcing her candidacy.
The AP count is predicated on interviews with individual delegates, public statements from state parties – lots of which have announced that their delegations are in unanimous support of Harris – and public statements and endorsements from individual delegates.
Securing the nomination was just the primary item on Harris' massive political to-do list after she learned of Biden's plans to drop out of the race in a phone call with the president on Sunday morning. She must also select a running mate and redirect a large political campaign designed to re-elect Biden to bolster her candidacy as a substitute.
On Sunday afternoon, Biden's campaign officially modified its name to “Harris for President,” reflecting that she is taking on his political team of greater than 1,000 staffers and a war chest that stood at nearly $96 million at the tip of June. In the primary 24 hours of Biden's endorsement, she added $81 million to that total, her campaign said – a record for fundraising for a president – with contributions from greater than 888,000 donors.
Interest within the campaign also increased after Harris took the helm. Since the announcement, over 28,000 recent volunteers have registered – a rate that averaged greater than 100 times higher than the previous Biden re-election campaign, underscoring the passion behind Harris.
As notable figures endorsed Harris on Monday, including Governors Wes Moore of Maryland, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, the list of potential rivals disappeared.
House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, who was among the many notable holdouts and initially supported a primary to strengthen the eventual nominee, said she would “enthusiastically support” Harris' efforts to guide the party.
If elected, Harris could be the primary woman and the primary person of South Asian descent to carry the office.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to happen in Chicago from Aug. 19-22, however the party had said it could hold a virtual vote to formally nominate Biden before in-person negotiations begin. The convention's rules committee is scheduled to satisfy this week to finish its nomination process with a virtual vote as early as Aug. 1, the party announced Monday. The process is anticipated to be accomplished by Aug. 7.
“We can and will move both quickly and fairly in implementing this nomination,” Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a conference call with reporters.
The party said there will probably be multiple rounds of voting on nominees within the virtual roll call if multiple candidates meet the qualifying threshold. To qualify, candidates should have the electronic signatures of 300 convention delegates.
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