Vice President Kamala Harris, a daughter of immigrants who rose through the California political and law enforcement ranks to become the first female vice president in US history, formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday – becoming the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket.
More than four years after her first attempt at the presidency collapsed, Harris' coronation was prompted by President Joe Biden's disastrous June debate performance that shattered his own supporters' confidence in his reelection prospects and spurred discussion about whether he should stay in the race.
Just as soon as Biden abruptly ended his candidacy, Harris and her team worked rapidly to secure backing from the 1,976 party delegates needed to clinch the nomination in a formal roll call vote. She reached that marker at warp speed, with an Associated Press survey of delegates nationwide showing she locked down the necessary commitments a mere 32 hours after Biden's announcement.
Harris' nomination became official after a five-day round of online balloting by Democratic National Convention delegates ended Monday night, with the party saying in a statement released just before midnight that 99% of delegates casting ballots had done so for Harris. It said it would formally certify the vote before holding a celebratory roll call at the party's convention later this month in Chicago.
I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I will officially accept the nomination next week.
This campaign is about people coming together, fueled by love of country, to fight for the best of who we are.
Join us: https://t.co/abmve926Hz
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 2, 2024
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted after Biden withdrew found that 46% of Americans have a favorable view of Harris, while a nearly identical share has an unfavorable view of her. But more Democrats say they are satisfied with her candidacy compared with that of Biden, energizing a party that had long been resigned to the 81-year-old Biden being its nominee against former President Donald Trump, a Republican they view as an existential threat.
Already, Harris has said that she doesn't plan to veer much from the themes and policies that framed Biden's candidacy, such as democracy, gun violence prevention, and abortion rights. But her delivery can be far fierier, particularly when she invokes her prosecutorial background to lambast Trump and his 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records in connection with a hush money scheme.
"Given that unique voice of a new generation, of a prosecutor and a woman when fundamental rights, especially reproductive rights, are on the line, it's almost as if the stars have aligned for her at this moment in history," said Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California, who was tapped to succeed Harris in the Senate when she became vice president.
