WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey taken in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s 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 party’s donors, elected officials and other leaders.
However, the Associated Press is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. That’s 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 she’ll need to win on a first ballot. But it also finds she’s 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 Biden’s 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:
Locking up the nomination was only the first item on the staggering political to-do list for Harris after learning of Biden’s 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, Biden’s 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 Biden’s endorsement, her campaign said — a presidential fundraising record — 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.