Former Attorney General Eric Holder Holder and his firm Covington & Burling LLP will help review potential vice presidential contenders for the newly rebranded Harris for President campaign, two sources told Reuters.
The move comes as Vice President Kamala Harris finds herself racing against the clock to figure out a running mate ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from Aug. 19-22.
That gives her mere weeks to make the consequential decision.
Holder is an alumnus of the Obama administration, where he served as the nation’s first black attorney general. He had also been a staunch defender of President Biden — at least in the public domain.
Since departing the Obama administration in 2015, Holder has remained politically active in the legal arena and was a key figure in the decennial congressional line-drawing battles in the 2022 midterm election cycle, during which he chaired the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
Harris, 59, is now the overwhelming favorite to clinch the nod for Democratic presidential standard-bearer after Biden’s tectonic Sunday announcement that he was withdrawing from the race.
She had the backing of Biden and a litany of big-name Democrats who are keen on staving off a bitter internal party fight in such close proximity to the Nov. 5 election.
Despite being the undisputed frontrunner, with most of the party’s bigwigs already lined up behind her, Harris is not 100% guaranteed to land the nomination.
In theory, someone could still challenge her — but by doing so, they’d almost certainly face an uphill battle and potentially jeopardize party efforts for unity among Democrats, three and a half months out from election night.
Democrats initially planned to hold a virtual roll call and crown their nominee in advance of the convention next month. The DNC’s rule committee is slated to meet Wednesday to chart a path forward.
The Post contacted officials at the Covington & Burling LLP and in the Harris campaign for comment.
Biden’s unprecedented decision to drop out of the presidential race at this stage of the election season came in the wake of a mushrooming mutiny among Democrats amid concerns over his mental acuity.
Almost two weeks prior, the 81-year-old president publicly declared in a letter to congressional Democrats that he was “firmly committed” to staying in the contest.
Now, the White House is adamant that he will serve out the remainder of his term in office.
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