US Vice President Kamala Harris swiftly consolidated Democratic support for her presidential bid yesterday, securing commitments from hundreds of convention delegates, announcing a massive fundraising haul and earning endorsements from top party figures after President Joe Biden abruptly left the race.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has remained influential since stepping down as the party’s House of Representatives leader in 2022, backed Harris yesterday, adding to a parade of endorsements from key Democrats.
Pelosi played a leading role in persuading Biden, 81, to step aside amid concerns over his acuity and ability to beat Republican Donald Trump or to serve another four years.
Pelosi, 84, saluted Biden in a statement, adding: “We must unify and charge forward to resoundingly defeat Donald Trump and enthusiastically elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States.”
The campaign aims to secure commitments from a majority of the nearly 4,000 Democratic delegates to next month’s Democratic Party convention by tomorrow evening, sources told Reuters, effectively wrapping up the nomination. Campaign officials and allies have made hundreds of calls urging delegates to nominate Harris for president in the November 5 election.
Harris’ campaign said it had raised $81 million in the 24 hours after Biden’s exit, by far the most for a single day in the 2024 campaign for either party.
Virtually all of the prominent Democrats who had been seen as potential challengers to Harris have lined up behind her, including Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Gavin Newsom of California and Andy Beshear of Kentucky.
Harris, 59, praised Biden for his service to the country yesterday in her first public appearance since he abandoned his re-election bid on Sunday and endorsed her as his successor. “Joe Biden’s legacy over the last three years is unmatched in modern history,” Harris said at a White House event to honour college athletes.
Harris did not specifically refer to her new status as the leading Democratic candidate for president. She said Biden, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, was feeling better. Democrats hope Harris can re-energise what had been a flagging presidential campaign, days after the Republican National Convention offered a stark display of Trump’s dominance over his party.
Harris travelled to Delaware yesterday afternoon to visit what had been the Biden campaign headquarters and now serves as her main campaign office. Harris, who is Black and Asian American, would fashion an entirely new dynamic with Trump, 78, offering a vivid generational and cultural contrast.
Biden, the oldest person ever to occupy the Oval Office, said he would remain in the presidency until his term ends on January 20, 2025.
Harris spent the day working the phones, dressed in a Howard University sweatshirt and eating pizza with anchovies as she spoke with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a potential vice presidential running mate, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congressional Black Caucus chair Representative Steven Horsford, according to sources.
Trump yesterday questioned Democrats’ right to change candidates. “They stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.
Proponents argue she would mobilise those voters, consolidate Black support and bring sharp debating skills to prosecute the political case against the former president.
More than 44,000 Black women and allies, including Representatives Maxine Waters, Jasmine Crockett and Joyce Beatty, joined a three-hour call in support of Harris bid, raising more than $1.5m for her presidential campaign, organisers told Reuters. But some Democrats were concerned about the country’s long history of racial and gender discrimination. The US has not elected a woman president in its nearly 250-year-old history.
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