Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee Monday night after rapidly securing support from Democratic delegates and party leaders following President Joe Biden’s decision not to run for reelection.
Harris received support from numerous state Democratic delegations on Monday, clearing the required threshold to win the party’s presidential nomination next month, a rapid consolidation that will likely prevent a chaotic primary process in the wake of Biden’s withdrawal.
“When I announced my campaign for President, I said I intended to go out and earn this nomination. Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top,” Harris said in a statement, noting the support she received from California’s delegation.
“Over the next few months, I will be traveling across the country talking to Americans about everything that is on the line. I fully intend to unite our party, unite our nation, and defeat Donald Trump in November.”
A survey of Democratic delegates conducted by the Associated Press found that Harris gained support from 2,668 delegates, surpassing the 1,976 needed to win the Democratic nomination. No other candidate was mentioned by the delegates AP surveyed.
Democratic power brokers such as former president Bill Clinton, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, and California governor Gavin Newsom all quickly endorsed Harris after Biden gave her the nod following his announcement Sunday that he will not be running for another term. Across the board, more than 200 Democratic elected officials publicly endorsed Harris for the party’s nomination.
Harris immediately took over the Biden campaign’s infrastructure and the campaign said it raised over $100 million from Sunday afternoon to Monday evening, mostly from first-time donors. The newfound enthusiasm for Harris poses a stark contrast to her failed 2020 presidential campaign where she struggled to gain traction and dropped out before the Iowa caucus.
On Tuesday, Harris is scheduled to hold her first presidential campaign rally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the site of last week’s Republican National Convention. Her mental fitness and relative youth at age 59 will allow her to be much more visible on the campaign trail than Biden, 81, before he dropped out.
Next month, Democrats will likely hold a virtual roll call vote to make Harris the party nominee ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which begins on August 19. Several names are already being floated for Harris’s potential running mate, among them Kentucky governor Andy Beshear (D), North Carolina governor Roy Cooper (D), Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro (D) and Senator Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.), all candidates who could help Harris moderate her progressive image.
Republicans are beginning to attack Harris for the progressive positions she espoused four years ago and her abject failure overseeing the Biden administration’s immigration policy.