Endorsements flood in for vice-president – but notable exceptions suggest a desire for an open convention
Democrats are rushing to figure out a plan to keep the presidency in November after Joe Biden announced on Sunday he would suspend his bid for re-election.
In the hours after Biden’s announcement, a swarm of Democrats endorsed Kamala Harris, the vice-president and onetime presidential candidate, moving her to the top of the list of potential nominees, while donations surged.
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Biden threw his support behind Harris, saying that choosing her as his vice-president was “the best decision I’ve made”. His campaign finance account changed its name to “Harris for President”, unearthing a $96m cash war chest for the vice-president to make her case to American voters.
Small-dollar donors meanwhile raised more than $46.7m on ActBlue in the first five hours of Harris’ presidential campaign, the fundraising platform said on X on Sunday.
Harris confirmed she would run.
“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead.”
Harris was to make her first public appearance on Monday morning at the White House, where she is scheduled to speak at an event honoring National Collegiate Athletic Association championship teams. She is filling in for Biden, who is recovering after contracting Covid last week.
The endorsements cascaded throughout Sunday, though there were some notable absences that could indicate desire for an open Democratic convention and a primary-esque fight for the nomination before the event in Chicago in mid-August.
Barack Obama did not endorse Harris, and neither did the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi – two heavyweights in Democratic politics who reportedly played lead roles in pushing Biden out of the race.
“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” Obama said in a statement. “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
By Sunday’s end Harris still appeared the favorite for the nomination, though the many steps between now and winning enough delegates allow for an untold number of ways her candidacy could go awry, especially in such a tumultuous election year.
She won endorsements from the leadership of several influential caucuses and political organizations, including 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.
Several men who have been discussed as potential running mates for Harris – Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly – were among those who issued statements backing her.
The rounds of endorsements followed weeks of clamoring on the left and social media memes pushing for Harris’ rise. Her supporters, dubbed the “KHive”, shared coconut emojis, a nod to a speech in which she laughed about something her mother used to say: “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” They resurfaced an ad from Harris’ 2020 presidential bid that attacked Trump for his comments on women and questionable businesses and posted copies of a check Trump made to Harris’s previous campaigns in California.
No coordinated opposition has emerged against Harris or in favor of any other candidate, a sign that Harris will probably be able to win the presidential nomination. Some reports indicated that the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, would not challenge Harris. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Sunday he would be endorsing Harris. Both had been floated as possible contenders.
But on Sunday, at least one potential challenger did emerge. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia senator who changed his party affiliation from Democrat to independent earlier this year, is reportedly considering a return to the Democratic party so he can run for the presidency.
The rules and processes for securing a Democratic nominee will be unfamiliar to many involved. With Democrats wading into uncharted territory, Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said the party would soon announce the next steps in its nomination process.
Biden is the first president in 56 years to call off his campaign for re-election. In 1968, Lyndon Johnson stepped down from campaigning, which led to a floor fight for delegates at the Democratic convention, also in Chicago.
While Democrats piled praise on Biden for making a hard but statesmanlike decision, Republicans began attacking Harris and alleging the left was engaged in an anti-democratic practice that could lead to lawsuits.
Republicans sought to pin Biden’s vulnerabilities on Harris and called for Biden to leave the White House, saying if he was not competent enough to campaign, he should not remain president.
“Kamala Harris is just as much of joke as Biden is,” the Trump campaign said in a statement. “Harris will be even WORSE for the people of our Nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the Enabler in Chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two. Harris must defend the failed Biden Administration AND her liberal, weak-on-crime record in CA.”