WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s no surprise, but it’s now official: United States Vice President, Kamala Harris, is the only candidate for the White House who has qualified to compete for the Democratic presidential nomination, the National Committee announced in a statement on Tuesday.
In just one month, filled with controversy and tensions, the Democrats witnessed Joe Biden’s debacle in the debate against Trump; the heated debate to replace him; an attempt was made on Donald Trump’s life; the President of the United States resigned from the re-election campaign and now the National Committee officially clears the way for the vice president to seek her party’s nomination without facing opposition.
Why weren't more candidates presented?
According to the party rules, a candidate can compete for the nomination by submitting a notarized candidacy statement, meeting the legal requirements to be president, and obtaining the electronic signatures of at least 300 delegates, with a maximum of 50 signatures from the same delegation.
Only one candidate met these criteria: her name is Kamala Harris, she is 59 years old and had the support of 3,923 delegates.
How will the process to officially choose Harris be?
Harris will now face a vote by the delegates to the National Convention of the party, who will officially ratify the candidate in a new online voting procedure adopted last week.
The voting will start on Thursday, August 1st and will conclude four days later, as stated in the announcement.
Votes in favor of any candidate other than Harris will be counted as "present." According to a survey by The Associated Press, Harris was the overwhelming choice of convention delegates to replace Biden as the party's standard-bearer and face off against former Republican president Donald Trump at the polls in November.
According to NBC News, early voting is related to a legal issue: to register before August 7 in the state of Ohio and avoid the risk of not appearing on the ballot for the November presidential elections.
For the same reason, the Harris campaign announced that they will communicate the name of the vice presidential candidate before that date.
Despite the early voting to choose the candidate, delegates will meet as planned since August 19 at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The party will hold a ceremonial roll call vote state by state in the convention hall, followed by acceptance speeches from Harris and her running mate.