Vice President Kamala Harris wasted no time launching her campaign for the 2024 presidency, seeking the support of fellow Democrats along with the endorsement of President Joe Biden after he withdrew from the race due to his age and health concerns.
Her campaign officials and aides made hundreds of calls on Harris’ behalf on Sunday, urging delegates to next month’s Democratic Party convention to join them in nominating her for president in the Nov. 5 election against Republican Donald Trump.
Those calls, aimed at fending off potential Democratic challengers, began shortly after the 81-year-old Biden withdrew from the race, multiple sources said.
At the same time, Democratic state party chairmen endorsed Harris over the phone, several participants said.
Harris has spoken to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, her potential vice presidential running mate, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Steven Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, a source familiar with the matter said.
Harris, a 59-year-old Black and Asian-American woman, would introduce an entirely new dynamic with the 78-year-old Trump, presenting a vivid generational and cultural divide screen.
The United States has never elected a woman president in its 248-year history.
“Harris would be easier to beat than Joe Biden,” Trump said on CNN shortly after Biden’s announcement.
Biden, the oldest person ever to hold the Oval Office, said he would remain as president until his term ends on January 20, 2025, and supported Harris’s candidacy for him.
The White House said Harris will deliver a speech on Monday at 11:30 a.m. ET (1530 GMT) on the South Lawn at an event celebrating the NCAA 2023-24 college championship teams.
Facing growing questions about his mental acuity, Biden is the first president to drop his party’s nomination for reelection since President Lyndon B. Johnson in March 1968, during the Vietnam War.
Biden’s withdrawal leaves less than four months to campaign for his replacement. Leading Democrats, including potential challengers to Harris such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, immediately endorsed the vice president.
“I intend to seek and win this nomination,” Harris said in a statement. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party and our country to defeat Donald Trump.”
Despite the initial support for Harris, talk of an open convention hasn’t completely died down when Democrats gather in Chicago Aug. 19-22.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama did not announce endorsements, though both praised Biden.
Two other potential challengers — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear — made no mention of the vice president in their statements.
With Democrats entering uncharted territory, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said the party would soon announce the next steps in its nominating process.
What is certain is that Biden’s withdrawal has again altered the nature of the contest for the White House that has been shaken repeatedly over the past month.
Biden’s poor performance in the debate with Trump on June 27 led many Democrats to urge him to leave the debate. Then on July 13, a gunman attempted to assassinate former President Trump.
And last week Trump nominated hardline Republican U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, 39, as his vice presidential running mate.
Abortion rights leader
Harris, a former California attorney general and former U.S. senator, unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020.
Biden won the nomination, chose Harris as his vice president, and defeated Trump.
Harris has been vocal on abortion rights, an issue that is popular among young voters and progressives.
She is expected to follow Biden’s foreign policy on issues such as China, Iran and Ukraine, but could take a tougher stance on Israel over the Gaza war if she tops the Democratic ticket and wins the November election.
Supporters argue she will energize those voters, solidify Black support and bring sharp debating skills to advance the political case against the former president.
But some Democrats were concerned about Harris’s candidacy, in part because of the long history of racial and gender discrimination in the United States.
Polls show Harris is statistically no better than Biden against Trump.
In a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos on July 15–16, shortly after the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump, Harris had 44% support each and Trump had 36% support each.
The same poll had Trump leading Biden 43% to 41%, though a difference of 2 percentage points was not meaningful given the poll’s 3-point margin of error.
Biden’s campaign had $95 million on hand at the end of June, according to a document filed with the Federal Election Commission. Campaign finance law experts disagree on how easily that money could be shifted to a Harris-led campaign.
Small donors raised more than $46.7 million on ActBlue in the first five hours of Harris’ presidential campaign, the fundraising platform said on X on Sunday.
last minute shift
Biden, who had said he would address the nation this week, has not been seen in public since testing positive for COVID-19 last week. He had been isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
“Although it has been my intention to run for re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and country that I step down and focus on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote on the post.
Congressional Republicans argued on Sunday that Biden should immediately resign as president, thereby handing the White House to Harris and House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, who would be next in the line of succession.
“If he’s unable to run for president, how is he able to govern right now? I mean, there’s five months left in this administration. It’s a real concern, and it’s a danger to the country,” Johnson told CNN ahead of Biden’s announcement on Sunday.
During the 2020 campaign, Biden described himself as a bridge to the next generation. Some interpreted this to mean he would serve a single term, a transitional figure who defeated Trump and returned his party to power.
But Biden decided to run for re-election because he believed he could beat Trump again. His campaign was already struggling and fell into deeper trouble after his debate performance raised serious concerns about his ability to win the election or remain president for another four years.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
