US Vice President Kamala Harris effectively clinched the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination on Friday, confirming her significant lead as the party’s flag-bearer in November’s contest against Republican Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris was the only candidate on the ballot for the five-day electronic vote of about 4,000 party convention delegates. She will be officially crowned at the Chicago convention later this month.
“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States,” Kamala Harris, 59, said by phone at a party function after securing enough votes to win the second day of marathon voting.
In the two weeks since President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Kamala Harris has taken full control of the party.
No other Democrat stepped forward to challenge her rise to the top of the ticket, making her confirmation a mere formality as the first Black and South Asian woman to receive a major party’s nomination.
The announcement comes as Kamala Harris prepares to launch her campaign next week in seven crucial electoral states with her new candidate – whose name is expected to be revealed in a few days.
The Democratic Party has decided to hold a virtual nomination process — similar to the pandemic-affected 2020 vote — because Ohio has an Aug. 7 deadline for major parties to submit their certified candidates for the November election.
The virtual roll call marks the official start of the 2024 convention, though in practice the festivities will really begin when thousands of party supporters gather in Chicago on Aug. 19.
It will see the casting of formal votes for Kamala Harris and her running mates, a powerful celebration of her rise from state politics to the top.
Trump’s White House bid was thrown into disarray on July 21 when Biden, 81, withdrew his candidacy and endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
The vice president has already broken fund-raising records, drawn arena crowds and erased Trump’s lead over Biden, creating a momentum she hopes will propel her to the White House through the convention.
She will make her first public appearance with her running mate on Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — a crucial swing state whose Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, is among a few candidates being considered to potentially join Kamala Harris on the ticket.
The shift will take Kamala Harris through Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all “blue wall” states, where she will try to rebuild the coalition that carried Biden to victory in 2020.
But she will expand her travel to more racially diverse Sun Belt and Southern states of Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada, as she seeks to turn around Black and Hispanic votes that have been shifting away from Democrats.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
