Vice President and newly minted presidential candidate Kamala Harris gushed about President Joe Biden’s legacy on Monday, in her first address to the nation since Biden ended his reelection campaign. Biden, still in Delaware recovering from Covid, was absent.
“Our president, Joe Biden, wanted to be here today, he is feeling much better and recovering fast, and he looks forward to getting back on the road,” Harris said during remarks during the White House’s NCAA Sports Day event. “Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history. In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office.”
“I first came to know President Biden through his son, Beau. We worked together as attorneys general in our states, and back then, Beau would often tell me stories about his dad. He would talk about the kind of father, and the kind of man, that Joe Biden is,” she continued. “The qualities that Beau revered in his father are the same qualities that I have seen every day in our president: his honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big heart, and his love, deep love, of our country. And I am firsthand witness that every day, our President Joe Biden, fights for the America people, and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.”
Biden, who has yet to address America since ending his bid for reelection, endorsed Harris on Sunday. Biden said that he would give Harris his “full support and endorsement,” and encouraged Democrats to “come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
High-powered Democrats have since followed suit. Former President Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Governors Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, J.B. Pritzker, and Phil Murphy, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Patty Murray (D., Wash.), and Mark Warner (D., Va.) have all endorsed Harris. President Barack Obama steered clear of explicitly offering Harris support this weekend, and instead put his faith in Democrats to “create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
The high-profile endorsements, coupled with access to the Biden campaign’s considerable war chest, make Harris the clear frontrunner in the Democratic nominating contest — and no other Democratic challenger has yet announced an intention to seek the nomination. But should Democratic delegates refuse to rally around the vice president during a virtual roll call in early August, the Democratic National Convention could turn ugly, with ambitious members of the party’s next generation vying with one another for delegate support.
Harris’s campaign has raised almost $50 million in campaign donations since Biden withdrew.
“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said Sunday on X. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump.”