WASHINGTON/Wilmington, Delaware – According to several sources, US Vice President Kamala Harris received support from the majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention on Monday, possibly securing her nomination for president next month.
President Joe Biden cast his support for Harris on Sunday, withdrawing from the race due to concerns about his age and health. He promised to stay in office as president until his tenure ended on January 20, 2025.
According to an Associated Press survey of delegates, Harris has the backing of 2,538 delegates, much beyond the 1,976 required to win the delegates’ vote in the coming weeks. Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison stated on Monday that the party will nominate a presidential candidate by August 7.
Delegates might still change their minds before August 7, but no one else received votes in the AP poll, and 57 stated they were unsure.
Harris roused fans on Monday with her debut campaign speech, vowing to go after Republican nominee Donald Trump like the courtroom prosecutor she once was.
“I confronted culprits of all kinds. “Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for personal gain,” Harris told campaign workers 28 hours after President Joe Biden, 81, dropped out of the 2024 presidential run and backed her.
“So, believe me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type. In this campaign, I will proudly compare my record to his,” said Harris, who previously served as California’s attorney general and a US senator before becoming Biden’s vice president.
The Trump campaign replied to Harris’s remarks. “Kamala Harris is just as incompetent as Joe Biden and even more liberal,” Karoline Leavitt, the campaign’s national press secretary, declared. “Not only does Kamala need to defend her support of Joe Biden’s failed agenda over the past four years, she also needs to answer for her own terrible weak-on-crime record in California.”
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in September after being found guilty of manipulating business documents to conceal hush money payments to a porn star. He also faces criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory. He erroneously claims that he lost in 2020 due to election fraud.
Biden called into Harris’ campaign rally while recovering from COVID-19 at his home in Delaware. He sounded hoarse, but grateful to his vice president.
Biden said he believed he made the correct decision by opting out. Biden, the oldest person ever to hold the presidency, said on Sunday that he will serve until his tenure ends on January 20, 2025.
Harris, 59, highlighted a variety of initiatives she planned to pursue, including signing legislation to safeguard abortion rights and ban assault guns, and stated that she would prioritize rebuilding the middle class during her presidency.
Within minutes of receiving Biden’s support on Sunday, Harris began consolidating Democratic support for her presidential campaign, securing commitments from hundreds of convention delegates, announcing a massive fundraising haul, and earning endorsements from top party figures, according to Reuters.
These included former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has remained influential since leaving the party’s House of Representatives leadership in 2022. On Monday, the AFL-CIO labor union federation, which represents 12.5 million workers, announced its endorsement of Harris for president.
Harris’ campaign reported raising $81 million in the 24 hours following Biden’s resignation, the biggest for a single day in either party’s 2024 campaign.
Almost all of the notable Democrats who were considered prospective challenges to Harris have voiced their support for her, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Whitmer announced in a post on X on Monday that she would serve as Harris’ campaign co-chair.
Biden’s withdrawal was the latest bombshell in a White House contest that had already seen his poor June 27 debate performance against former President Trump and Trump’s near-assassination by a shooter during a campaign event on July 13.
Harris praised Biden for his contribution to the country. At a White House event honoring collegiate athletes earlier on Monday, she said, “Joe Biden’s legacy over the last three years is unmatched in modern history.”
Harris will fly to Milwaukee, the largest city in the battleground state of Wisconsin, on Tuesday. Last week, Milwaukee hosted the Republican National Convention, which demonstrated Trump’s supremacy over his party.
New Generation
Harris, who is Black and Asian American, would create a completely new dynamic with Trump, 78, providing a stark generational and cultural contrast.
Sources told Reuters that the Trump campaign has been planning for her probable rise for weeks. On Monday, it issued a lengthy indictment of her immigration and other policies, accusing her of being more liberal than Biden.
It was claimed that Harris advocated dismantling the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and decriminalizing border crossings, endorsed the so-called Green New Deal, supported the administration’s electric vehicle regulations, and encouraged “defund the police” measures.
Some of them were statements Harris took as an unsuccessful presidential candidate in the 2020 election, when she ran on a more liberal agenda than Biden, but they were not implemented by the government, particularly on border security and law enforcement problems.
According to two sources familiar with the process, Eric Holder, who served as US Attorney General during President Barack Obama’s administration, and his legal firm Covington & Burling LLP will examine Harris’ potential running mates.
On Monday, Trump questioned Democrats’ right to change candidates, citing bogus accusations that his 2020 loss to Biden was the result of fraud that spurred the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.
“They stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries,” Trump remarked on his Truth Social platform.
