Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey taken in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his bid for reelection.
The development comes as Harris is set to make her first first to battleground state Wisconsin on Tuesday, a visit scheduled before Biden ended his campaign. However, the trip to Milwaukee -- where she will hold her first campaign rally -- has taken on new meaning as Harris prepares to take up the mantle of her party against Trump and looks to project calm and confidence after weeks of Democratic Party confusion over Biden's political future.
Harris, who was endorsed by Biden minutes after he announced he would not accept the Democratic nomination, worked to quickly lock up the support of her party’s donors, elected officials and other leaders, and has so far received support from at least 2,214.
However, the AP is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. That’s because the convention delegates are still free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in August or if Democrats hold a virtual roll call ahead of that gathering in Chicago.
Delegations across numerous states, including Illinois, unanimously endorsed Harris, as the party prepares for its nominating vote in August. The Democratic National Committee has not yet finalized its rules for that vote, but the flock of delegates to the vice president reflected broader coalescing of support throughout the Democratic Party.
Speaking at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, following President Joe Biden's decision to step aside, Harris went after Trump, drawing on her time as a prosecutor before she ran for office in California.
“I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” she said, including “predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.”
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“So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” she added.
MORE: WATCH: Kamala Harris speaks for 1st time after Biden drops of presidential race
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Harris thanked staffers and told them that she had asked Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon to "run" her presidential bid, adding that "she has accepted." Biden's former campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, will stay on with Harris' campaign in her previous position. Campaign officials later said that O'Malley Dillon is Harris' campaign chair and that the leadership posts remain the same.
Harris also lauded Biden, telling campaign staffers, “In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who served two terms in office.”
She spoke shortly after Biden called in to the campaign headquarters from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he is recovering from COVID. He told campaign staff members that deciding to step away from the campaign "was the right thing to do."
"I know it’s hard, because you poured your heart and soul into me to help us win this thing, help me get this nomination, help me win the nomination, and then go on to win the, win the presidency. But you know, you’re an amazing team, but ... I think we made the right decision," he said.
Pritzker endorses Harris
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer formally endorsed Harris in statements Monday morning, joining a long list of other Democrats known to harbor national ambitions who came out for her Sunday, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
And moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., announced he would not seek the nomination himself, which he had been considering just a day earlier.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, also endorsed Harris on Monday, a strong signal to members of her party that Democrats should rally behind her.
It's now unclear whether anyone will even challenge Harris for the Democratic nomination ahead of next month's convention in Chicago, let alone pose a real threat to her. (A hopeful would need to get the signatures of 300 delegates, a threshold that may be insurmountable for the likes of twice-failed candidate Marianne Williamson.)
Statements of support for Harris have been streaming in from seemingly every corner of the sprawling Democratic coalition, with no obvious pockets of opposition having emerged so far.
“We as Democrats don’t have time to waste and figure things out and say, 'Maybe this person' or 'maybe that person.' Kamala Harris is the person," Mayor London Breed of San Francisco, where Harris got her start in elective politics, said at a rally Monday morning.
All 50 state Democratic Party chairs have endorsed Harris, as have a slew of state delegations to the Democratic National Convention, after party officials scrambled to hold emergency meetings and internal votes in the hours after Biden dropped out.
Harris' nomination now seems so assured that Democrats have moved on from speculating about challengers to who might be her running mate.
Dems plan to push ahead with virtual roll call ahead of 2024 DNC in Chicago
The convention rules committee will meet Wednesday to approve how the virtual roll call will work, but a draft of the plan was obtained by The Associated Press on Monday night. It does not list a date for when virtual voting would begin, but Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said the process will be completed by Aug. 7 — or 12 days before the party’s convention begins.
“We are living through an unprecedented moment in history and, as a party, we are tackling it with the seriousness that it deserves,” Harrison said on a conference call with reporters. “We are prepared to undertake a transparent, swift and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a nominee who represents our values.”
He also said Democrats “can, and will, be both fast and fair as we execute this nomination.”
The president endorsed Harris to replace him on the Democratic ticket, but she won’t formally do so until nominated by the party’s convention delegates. The rules of the virtual roll call her party is planning require Harris, and any other potential Democrat willing to challenge her, to submit 300 electronic signatures from convention delegates, not more than 50 of whom can be from the same state.
The vice president, and any other candidate qualifying, would then have a few days to lobby delegates for their support before a virtual vote is held. Multiple rounds could be required, but the process would still be completed no later than Aug. 7.
That date is important because it was the original deadline to qualify for the presidential ballot in Ohio. Lawmakers there have since changed that, but the modification doesn’t take effect until Sept. 1 — and DNC attorneys have warned that waiting until after the initial deadline to determine a nominee could prompt legal challenges.
Democrats first announced in May that they’d hold a virtual roll call. Biden’s withdrawal from the race doesn’t change its plans, only complicates them.
Harris is still in the strongest position by far to emerge as her party’s nominee. Since Biden left the race and endorsed her, the vice president has been backed by hundreds of Democratic lawmakers, governors and some of the country’s most powerful unions — as well as members of the convention delegations in several states.
