Meanwhile, high-level Democrats offered their support in his attempt to defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump.
In a race against time and with few options for choosing candidates, prominent Democratic officials, party leaders and political organizations quickly rallied around Harris.
Speaking to her campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris acknowledged the “roller coaster” they have been through in recent weeks but expressed confidence in her new campaign team.
“I intend to win this nomination and emerge victorious,” she said. She promised to “unite our Democratic Party, unite our nation and win this election.”
Who supports her?
Prominent political figures announcing their endorsements Monday include Maryland Gov. Wes Moore; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker; and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, narrowing the list of potential Harris challengers.
House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, who had been among those who held back from voicing support for Harris, initially pushing the idea of a primary contest to cement the eventual nominee, said Monday that she will be lending her “enthusiastic support” to Harris’ effort to lead the party.
More than 1,300 pledged delegates have commented or announced they plan to support Harris at the convention. The threshold for securing the nomination is 1,976 delegates, according to Democratic National Committee rules.
Securing the nomination is just the first step on an extraordinary political to-do list facing Harris in the wake of Biden’s decision, which she learned in a phone call with the president on Sunday morning. If she manages to secure the nomination, she must also choose a running mate and launch a massive political operation to boost her candidacy over Biden’s with just over 100 days to go until the election.
Who could be chosen?
Harris is seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidential nomination in November after Joe Biden withdrew, but she has no rivals who can match her. So the question is… Who would she choose as her running mate?
The choice of the vice presidential candidate is made taking into account many variables: their influence in the key states to win the elections or in the vote of moderate voters or women, as well as their weight in deindustrialized regions.
In the last few hours, some names have been mentioned loudly:
Josh Shapiro
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, 51, would help turn his state’s vote over to Democrats.
It is one of the states considered “swing” states, meaning that they vote Democrat or Republican depending on the context in which the elections take place.
A great speaker, this centrist managed to defeat his right-wing rival, backed by Trump, in 2022.
Previously, she served twice as Pennsylvania’s attorney general and has denounced sexual assaults by Catholic priests against thousands of children, as well as suing the Purdue laboratory, considered the trigger of the opioid crisis.
Mark Kelly
The 60-year-old former military officer and astronaut is a senator for Arizona, another swing state that Joe Biden narrowly won from Trump in 2020.
Mark Kelly has been campaigning for gun control since his wife, former Democratic congresswoman Gabby Giffords, was nearly killed in 2011 when she was shot at point-blank range in the head.
Andy Beshear
The 46-year-old Kentucky governor was re-elected last November by running on a pro-choice ballot against a candidate backed by Trump.
The former Republican president, however, was far ahead of Joe Biden in this state in 2016 and 2020.
But Andy Beshear’s moderate stance could help Democrats win in other states where the white working and middle class vote is crucial. Key among them are Pennsylvania and Michigan, states in the “rust belt,” a region of the northeastern United States marked by industrial decline.
Asked Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” about the possibility of being a running mate, he said, “If someone asks you, you’ll at least have to listen to them.”
Roy Cooper
The 67-year-old North Carolina governor also leads a swing state, where Biden lost to Trump by just one percentage point in 2020.
Elected in this east coast state since 1986, Roy Cooper is known for never having lost an election.
The presence of this moderate Democrat could convince centrists to vote for the Democrats.
Abortion, one of the main issues of the campaign, is a major issue in this election, two years after the Supreme Court struck down the federal right of American women to terminate a pregnancy and left it up to each state to legislate on the matter.
Cooper declined to answer a question on “Morning Joe” on Monday about the possibility of his being chosen as a running mate and asked viewers to focus on Harris.
The others
Other possible candidates include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California’s Gavin Newsom, Maryland’s Wes Moore, Illinois’ JB Pritzker and Minnesota’s Tim Walz.
Also in attendance were Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was a presidential candidate in 2020, as was African-American Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock.
Source: With information from AFP and AP
