WASHINGTON â Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her partyâs nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey taken in the aftermath of President Joe Bidenâs decision to drop his bid for reelection.
Harris, who was endorsed by Biden minutes after he announced he would not accept the Democratic nomination, worked to quickly lock up the support of her partyâs donors, elected officials and other leaders.
However, the Associated Press is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. Thatâs because the convention delegates are still free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention in August or if Democrats hold a virtual roll call ahead of that gathering in Chicago.
The AP survey is only an indication that she has the backing of more than the 1,976 delegates sheâll need to win on a first ballot. But it also finds sheâs the overwhelming choice of her party to replace Biden at the top of the ticket, as no other candidate was named by a delegate contacted by AP.
By Monday night, Harris had the support of at least 2,214 delegates, according to the AP tally, enough to win the nomination on the first ballot.
Prompted by voter concerns about his fitness for office following his June 27 debate with Trump, and a revolt among party leaders and donors, Biden quit the race on Sunday. But the quick coalescing behind Harris marked an attempt by the party to put weeks of internecine drama over Bidenâs political future behind them and to unify behind the task of defeating Trump with just over 100 days until Election Day.
The AP tally is based on interviews with individual delegates, public statements from state parties, many of which have announced that their delegations are supporting Harris en masse, and public statements and endorsements from individual delegates.
The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- Biden drops out of presidential race: live updates
- Kamala Harris campaign flooded with ârecord-breakingâ $81 million in donations in first 24 hours after Biden drops out
- Top Dems threatened to forcibly remove Biden from office unless he resigned, set him up to fail at Trump debate: Sources
- Schumer, Pelosi played âgood cop, bad copâ to convince Biden to drop out with ex speaker stating: âEasy way or the hard wayâ
- Trump and JD Vance accuse Dems of leading âcoupâ against Biden, call to âinvoke the 25th Amendmentâ
Locking up the nomination was only the first item on the staggering political to-do list for Harris after learning of Bidenâs plans to leave the race Sunday morning on a call with the presiden. She must also pick a running mate and pivot a massive political operation that had been built to reelect Biden to boost her candidacy instead.
On Sunday afternoon, Bidenâs campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President, reflecting that she is inheriting his political operation of more than 1,000 staffers and war chest that stood at nearly $96 million at the end of June. She added $81 million to that total in the first 24 hours after Bidenâs endorsement, her campaign said â a presidential fundraising record â with contributions from more than 888,000 donors.
Harris, if elected, would be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to be president.
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