WILMINGTON, Delaware, USA (AP) — On Sunday, Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, hours later Kamala Harris accepted the president’s endorsement, and by Monday night, the vice president already seemed to have enough delegates to become the Democratic Party’s candidate and face Donald Trump in the elections on November 5th.
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A survey by The Associated Press revealed that Kamala Harris has the support of enough Democratic delegates to secure the presidential nomination. CNN also reported the same information.
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Harris will need the support of at least 1,976 delegates at the Democratic National Convention to become the party's presidential candidate, and according to the AP count, she already has 2,579. However, since the vice president did not win any state primaries, the delegates are not bound and are free to vote for whomever they choose.
The Democratic Party rallies behind Kamala Harris
The data from this survey confirms the speed with which the Democratic Party aligned itself with Kamala Harris, leaving little room for divisions.
With the aim of leaving behind weeks of intraparty drama regarding President Joe Biden's candidacy, prominent Democratic officials, party leaders, and political organizations rallied around Harris this Monday.
Among the most prominent political figures who announced their support on Monday are Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. This narrowed down the list of potential rivals for Harris, as Pritzker, Shapiro, and Whitmer were seen as possible opponents of the vice president.
Harris spent much of his time this Monday making over 100 calls to Democratic officials to secure support for his candidacy. In his conversations, he expressed gratitude for Biden's endorsement, but insisted that he was seeking to earn the nomination on his own merits.
The former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who had been one of the people who refrained from expressing support for Harris on Sunday, initially pushing the idea of a primary contest to consolidate the eventual nominee, said on Monday that she will be offering her "enthusiastic support" to the vice president's effort to lead the party.
Record fundraising for Kamala Harris' campaign
Securing the nomination is just the first step in an extraordinary list of political tasks that Harris faces after Biden's decision, which she learned about in a phone call with the president on Sunday morning. If she manages to secure the nomination, she must also choose a running mate and launch a massive political operation to boost her candidacy with just over 100 days left until the elections.
On Sunday afternoon, Biden's campaign formally changed its name to "Harris for President," reflecting that she is the one inheriting a political operation of over 1,000 staff and a fund totaling nearly $96 million by the end of June. "She added $81 million to that total in the first 24 hours since Biden endorsed her," her campaign reported, a new presidential fundraising record coming from over 888,000 donors.
When is the Democratic Convention?
The National Democratic Convention is scheduled to take place from August 19th to 22nd in Chicago, but the party had planned a remote vote to formally nominate Biden before the in-person proceedings began.
The president of the Hispanic legislative caucus, Nanette Barragan, said she spoke on Sunday with Harris, who informed her that he preferred to forego a virtual vote for the nomination process and instead hold a process that adheres to the regular order.