WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday launched her election campaign with a scathing personal attack on Donald Trump, vowing to win in November despite the “rollercoaster” ride that was President Joe Biden's shock exit.
As she edged toward the Democratic nomination with the support of a host of heavyweights and massive donations from voters, Harris lashed out at Trump in her first speech to campaign workers since Biden's announcement Sunday.
Meanwhile, Biden, 81, made his first public remarks in nearly a week as he recovers from a bout of COVID-19.
He called into the campaign meeting to say that leaving the race — after growing concerns from the party and voters about his health and mental acuity — had been “the right thing to do” and praised Harris as “the best.”
“We're going to win in November,” a smiling Harris told campaign workers in her impassioned speech at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.
He said he had gone to the Wilmington office to address them personally after the “roller coaster” of the past few days.
Directing her attacks at Trump, Harris referred to her previous role as California's chief prosecutor, saying she “took on perpetrators of all stripes.”
“Predators who abused women. Scammers who ripped off consumers. Fraudsters who broke the rules for their own benefit. So listen to me when I tell you I know Donald Trump's guy,” she said to applause.
Harris also pledged to focus on the politically explosive issue of abortion, after Trump praised the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn the long-held federal right to the procedure.
Optimism without limits
Biden dropped out on Sunday and endorsed Harris after three weeks of intensifying pressure sparked by a disastrous debate performance against Trump.
Aiming to become the first female president in US history, Harris, 59, has secured the backing of a seemingly unassailable number of Democrats.
Among them was powerful former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said she supported Harris “with immense pride and boundless optimism.”
The main labor federation, the AFL-CIO, also gave its formal endorsement on Monday.
Donors have rallied behind Harris, pouring a record $81 million into her campaign in the 24 hours after Biden stepped aside.
The campaign said it was the largest single-day raise in presidential history and that among the 888,000 grassroots donors, about 60 percent were making their first contribution for 2024.
In his remarks, Biden pledged to continue working on key issues, including ending the war in Gaza.
Turning to Harris, he added: “I'm watching you, boy. I love you.”
An aide to Harris later said she would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week during her visit to Washington, separate from Biden's planned meeting.
Harris will not attend Netanyahu's address to Congress, the aide said, due to a previously scheduled event.
In a strikingly symbolic moment Monday morning, Harris hosted a ceremony for college athletes at the White House while Biden remained in COVID isolation at his Delaware beach house.
The president is set to return to the White House on Tuesday, according to his official schedule, which was updated after his doctor reported that Biden's symptoms have “almost completely resolved.”
Threat to democracy
Biden's shock withdrawal has upended the 2024 race, transforming a long-running fight between two unpopular old men into one of the most thrilling races in modern American history.
The move has shaken a demoralized party that Harris could now unify and potentially give the United States its first female president.
It has also hit Republicans hard, as former President Trump, 78 (now the oldest presidential candidate in US history), has had to completely restructure a strategy that had been built around attacking Biden for his age and physical frailty.
Harris's entry not only turns the age question on its head, but pits Trump — a convicted felon who was also found guilty of sexual assault — against a woman and former prosecutor.
And Trump has apparently found it difficult to leave Biden behind.
He launched a series of insult-filled social media posts after Biden resigned, mocking the president's age and saying he and Harris posed a “threat to democracy.”
Trump's running mate, JD Vance, echoed that line of attack at a rally in Ohio on Monday, telling supporters that Harris had the momentum because “the elite Democrats got into a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard.”
“That's not how it works. That's a threat to democracy,” he said.
