WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris in the Biden administration Harris has garnered enough delegate votes to become the candidate of the Democratic Party to run for president, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said Friday.
Harris was the only candidate to appear before the nearly 4,000 delegates who, over five days, were to electronically vote to select their party’s presidential candidate. She had no challengers after the leadership decided to force Joe Biden to withdraw from his candidacy following a disastrous debate with former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party candidate.
Biden, who had won his party’s primaries without much competition, was removed from the race due to pressure from the party’s “heavyweights.” In revenge, Biden is said to have proposed Harris as the candidate. The official, who has had low levels of popularity during her administration, has received a boost from donors and the media, mostly related to the Democratic Party.
“I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States,” said the 59-year-old vice president after securing the support of more than half of the delegates on the second day of voting in which only delegates participate.
Harris is on track to become the first non-white woman to lead a presidential ticket for either of the two major U.S. political parties.
“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee,” Harris said in a call with supporters.
Harrison added that they will close ranks “with Vice President Kamala Harris and demonstrate the strength of our party” during the convention that will be held in Chicago in the coming weeks.
August 7 is the deadline for the various parties to make their candidacies official.
Harris will have less than 100 days to convince American voters to choose her over Trump.
“It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll get there, and as your future president, I know we’ll rise to the challenge,” she said in a statement.
Source: With information from AP and AFP