- Delegates can still change their minds before August 7.
- I know Trump's type, I'll compare my record to his, Harris says.
- Harris is as incompetent as Biden, Trump campaign says
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday won the backing of a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, likely ensuring she will become the party's nominee for president next month, according to multiple sources.
President Joe Biden endorsed Harris on Sunday as she dropped out of the race amid questions about her age and health. She pledged to remain in office until her term ends on January 20, 2025.
A Associated Press A poll of delegates showed Harris had the support of 2,538 delegates, far more than the 1,976 needed to win the delegate vote in the coming weeks. Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said Monday that the party will deliver a presidential nominee by Aug. 7.
Delegates could still change their minds before August 7, but no one else received votes in the ballot. AP poll and 57 delegates said they were undecided.
In Harris' first public appearance since the announcement, she rallied supporters Monday with a debut campaign speech in which she vowed to pursue Republican nominee Donald Trump like the prosecutor she once was.
“I stood up to perpetrators of every stripe. Predators who abused women, scammers who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain,” Harris told campaign workers 28 hours after President Joe Biden, 81, dropped out of the 2024 White House race and endorsed her.
“Listen to me when I say I know Donald Trump's guy. In this campaign, I will proudly compare my performance to his,” said Harris, who served as California attorney general and U.S. senator before becoming Biden's vice president.
The Trump campaign responded to Harris' comments. “Kamala Harris is just as incompetent as Joe Biden and even more liberal,” said Karoline Leavitt, the campaign's national press secretary. “Not only does Kamala need to defend her support for Joe Biden's failed agenda over the past four years, but she also needs to answer for her own terrible record of weakness on crime in California.”
Trump is set to be sentenced in September after being convicted of falsifying business records to conceal payments to a porn star to silence his supporters. He also faces criminal charges related to his attempts to overturn Biden's 2020 victory. He falsely claims he lost in 2020 due to voter fraud.
Biden, who is recovering from COVID-19 at his home in Delaware, called into Harris' campaign event. He sounded hoarse, but grateful to his vice president.
Biden said he thought he made the right decision to step down. Biden, the oldest person ever to occupy the Oval Office, said Sunday he would remain in office until his term ends on Jan. 20, 2025.
Harris, 59, outlined a series of policies she has promised to implement, including signing legislation to protect abortion rights and ban assault rifles, and said rebuilding the middle class would be a focus of her presidency.
Within minutes of receiving Biden's endorsement on Sunday, Harris began consolidating Democratic support for her presidential bid, securing commitments from hundreds of convention delegates, announcing a massive fundraiser and securing backing from top party figures, Reuters first reported.
Among them was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has remained influential since stepping down as House party leader in 2022. The AFL-CIO labor federation, which represents 12.5 million workers, said Monday it had also endorsed Harris for president.
Harris' campaign said it raised $81 million in the 24 hours after Biden left, the most for a single day in the 2024 campaign for either party.
Virtually every prominent Democrat considered a potential challenger to Harris has declared support for her, including Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Gavin Newsom of California and Andy Beshear of Kentucky. Whitmer, in a post on X, said Monday that she would serve as co-chair of Harris’ campaign.
Biden's exit was the latest shock in a White House race that included his disastrous June 27 debate performance against former President Trump and Trump's near-assassination on July 13 by a gunman during a campaign stop.
Harris praised Biden for his service to the country. At a White House event honoring college athletes on Monday, she said, “Joe Biden's legacy over the last three years is unmatched in modern history.”
Harris is set to travel Tuesday to Milwaukee, the largest city in the battleground state of Wisconsin, which last week hosted a Republican National Convention that offered a clear indication of Trump's dominance over his party.
New generation
Harris, who is Black and Asian American, would create an entirely new dynamic with Trump, 78, offering a vivid generational and cultural contrast.
Trump's campaign has been preparing for weeks for her possible promotion, sources told Reuters. On Monday he sent a detailed critique of her record on immigration and other issues, accusing her of being more liberal than Biden.
He alleged that Harris was in favor of abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and decriminalizing border crossings, backed the so-called Green New Deal, supported the administration's electric vehicle mandates and encouraged efforts to “defund the police.”
Some of those were positions Harris took as an unsuccessful presidential candidate in the 2020 election, when she ran on a more liberal agenda than Biden, but they were not positions the administration took, particularly with respect to border security and law enforcement issues.
Eric Holder, who served as U.S. attorney general in President Barack Obama's administration, and his law firm Covington & Burling LLP will conduct the vetting of Harris' potential running mates, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Trump, whose false claims that his 2020 loss to Biden was the result of fraud inspired the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on Monday questioned Democrats' right to switch candidates.
“The race was stolen from Biden after he won the primaries,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
