Without earning a single vote cast by the American public, Vice President Kamala Harris won enough support from Democratic delegates to secure her party’s presidential nomination less than 48 hours after her octogenarian boss dropped out of the race.
Over 2,660 delegates said they back the former California attorney general, pushing her way over the 1,976 votes needed to clinch the nomination, an Associated Press survey found. No other potential candidates were named in the survey as an alternative to Harris.
Since Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, his VP has gained support from other notable congressional Democrats and party leaders, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Biden ally Rep. Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.), former president Bill Clinton, and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who ran to be the first female president against Donald Trump in 2016. George Clooney, who wrote an op-ed in the New York Times that called on Biden to leave the race, also endorsed Harris.
Democratic delegates immediately began gathering support for the vice president following Biden’s announcement. Just hours after Biden ended his reelection campaign, Democratic National Committee members circulated a letter pushing their support for Harris as the next presidential nominee.
Harris has also raised at least $100 million since Biden passed the torch, which included a record $81 million raised in the first 24 hours of her campaign.
Harris, in public remarks on Monday from the Biden-Harris headquarters in Delaware, spoke to supporters as if she were the Democratic nominee, saying she was determined to beat Trump in November and remain in the White House.
"Donald Trump wants to take our country backward to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights," she said. "We believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans."
The last time Harris ran for president was in 2020. She was so unpopular among voters that she ended her campaign two months before voting and caucusing began.
The Democratic National Committee plans to hold a virtual vote to officially select its presidential nominee on Aug. 7. The Democratic National Convention is set for Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.