US Vice President Kamala Harris moved swiftly to lock up Democratic delegates behind her campaign for the White House after US President Joe Biden stepped aside amid concerns from within their own party that he would be unable to defeat former US president Donald Trump.
Biden’s exit on Sunday, prompted by Democratic worries over his fitness for office, was a seismic shift to the presidential contest that upended both major political parties’ carefully honed plans for the November race.
Aiming to put weeks of intraparty drama over Biden’s candidacy behind them, prominent Democratic elected officials, party leaders and political organizations quickly lined up behind Harris in the hours after Biden announced he was dropping his re-election campaign.
Photo: AP
Biden’s departure frees up his delegates to vote for whomever they choose. Harris, whom Biden backed after ending his candidacy, is thus far the only declared candidate and was working quickly to secure endorsements from a majority of delegates.
It is only the first item on a staggering political to-do list for her after Biden’s decision to exit the race, which she learned about on a Sunday morning call with the president. If she is successful at locking up the nomination, she must also pick a running mate and pivot a massive political operation to boost her candidacy instead of Biden’s with just more than 100 days until election day.
On Sunday afternoon, Biden’s campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President, reflecting that she is inheriting his political operation of more than 1,000 staffers and a war chest that stood at nearly US$96 million at the end of last month.
Photo: AFP
It got bigger by yesterday morning: Campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said Harris had raised US$49.6 million in donations in the first 15 hours after Biden’s endorsement.
Harris spent much of Sunday surrounded by family and staff, making more than 100 calls to Democratic officials to line up their support for her candidacy, a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the effort. It comes as she tries to move her party past the painful, public wrangling that had defined the weeks since the Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate with Trump.
Speaking to party leaders, Harris expressed gratitude for Biden’s endorsement, but added that she was looking to earn the nomination in her own right, the person said.
Photo: AFP
In a sign that the Democratic Party was moving to coalesce behind her, Harris quickly won endorsements from the leadership of several influential caucuses and political organizations, including the AAPI Victory Fund, which focuses on Asian American and Pacific Islander voters, The Collective PAC, focused on building black political power, and the Latino Victory Fund, as well as the chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the entire Congressional Black Caucus. Harris, if elected, would be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to be president.
Notably, a handful of men who had already been discussed as potential running mates for Harris — Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly — also swiftly issued statements endorsing her. Aides to Shapiro and Cooper confirmed that Harris spoke with them on Sunday afternoon. In her brief call with Cooper, the North Carolina governor told Harris he was backing her to be the Democratic nominee, his spokeswoman said.
However, former US president Barack Obama held off on an immediate endorsement, as some in the party have expressed worry that the quick shift to Harris would appear to be a coronation, instead pledging his support behind the eventual party nominee.
Harris, in a statement, praised Biden’s “selfless and patriotic act” in deciding to leave the race and said she intends to “earn and win” her party’s nomination.
“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” she said.
Biden planned to discuss his decision to step aside later this week in an address to the nation.
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