BY ZEKE MILLER AND SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris received the
backing of more than half of the Democratic delegates she needs to become her
party’s nominee, and she set a new fundraising record Monday in her first 24
hours as a presidential candidate, as top Democrats moved to coalesce around
her in their bid to defeat Republican Donald Trump.
Aiming to put weeks of intraparty drama over President Joe
Biden’s candidacy and prospects in November behind them, prominent Democratic
elected officials, party leaders and political organizations quickly lined up
behind Harris. The Democratic worries over Biden’s fitness for office were
replaced by fresh signs of unity, as the party looked to Harris to lead them
after a seismic shift to the presidential contest that upended both major
political parties’ carefully honed plans for the 2024 race.
Biden’s departure frees 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 to quickly secure endorsements from
a majority of delegates.
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Key endorsements Monday, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore,
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Kentucky Gov.
Andy Beshear, left a vanishing list of potential rivals to Harris.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who had been one of the
notable holdouts to Harris, initially encouraging a primary to strengthen the
eventual nominee, endorsed Harris Monday. Pelosi said she was lending her
“enthusiastic support” to Harris’ effort to lead the party.
More than 1,200 pledged delegates have told AP or announced
that they plan to support Harris at the convention, which is over half of the
pledged delegates she needs in order to clinch the nomination. Democratic
National Committee rules most recently set 1,976 pledged delegates as the
benchmark to win the nomination.
Winning the nomination 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’s 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 over 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 $96
million at the end of June. She added $81 million to that total in the first 24
hours after Biden’s endorsement, her campaign said — a presidential fundraising
record — with contributions from more than 888,000 donors.
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, according to 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
Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate with Trump.
Speaking to party leaders, Harris expressed gratitude for
Biden’s endorsement but insisted she was looking to earn the nomination in her
own right, the person said.
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 Gov. Josh Shapiro, North
Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly — also swiftly issued
statements endorsing her. Aides to Shapiro and Cooper confirmed that Harris
spoke with them Sunday afternoon. In her brief call with Cooper, the
But former 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.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who left the party earlier
this year but considered re-registering as a Democrat to vie for the nomination
against the vice president, told CBS News on Monday that he would not be a
candidate.
In an indication of how she will have to balance her day job
and her new role as candidate, Harris made her first public appearance Monday
morning at the White House, where she opened her address to National Collegiate
Athletic Association championship teams by praising Biden’s “unmatched” legacy,
saying she was “deeply grateful for his service to our nation.”
Harris was filling in at the event for
Biden, who is recovering at his home in Rehoboth Beach,
She was later set to travel to
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. He wrote in a letter posted Sunday to
his X account, “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the
country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as
President for the remainder of my term.”
Nearly 30 minutes after he delivered the news that he was
folding his campaign, Biden threw his support behind Harris.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for
Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” he said in another post on X.
“Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held
Aug. 19-22 in
Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairwoman Nanette Barragan,
who emphasized that she was “all in” behind the vice president, said she spoke Sunday
with Harris, who communicated that she preferred to forgo a virtual roll call
for the nomination process and instead hold a process that adheres to regular
order.
The Democratic National Committee’s chair, Jaime Harrison,
said in a statement that the party would “undertake a transparent and orderly
process” to select “a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.”
—
AP writers Leah Askarinam, Maya Sweedler and
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.