Kamala Harris secures Democratic presidential nomination
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Harris said on a phone-in to a party celebration she was "honored" to have amassed the required support by the second day of the marathon virtual vote and declared: "We are going to win this election."
"And it is going to take all of us... We are going to talk with people about the fact that we are all in this together, and we stand together," Harris said.
"And so, let's let folks know that our campaign is about the future. And it's about an expansion of rights and freedoms, and for the opportunity of everyone to not just get by, but to get ahead."
In the two weeks since Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Harris has gained full control of the party, smashing fundraising records, packing arenas and erasing the polling leads Trump had built over the president.
"I couldn't be prouder," Biden posted on X after her nomination.
The nomination milestone came with Harris preparing to hit the campaign trail next week for a swing across seven crucial election states alongside her yet-to-be-named running mate.
The roll call -- held earlier than usual and online due to altered state registration rules -- marks the official beginning of the 2024 convention, with the traditional festivities starting when the party faithful descends on Chicago on 19 August.
Wave of momentum
Trump's White House bid was turned upside down on 21 July when 81-year-old Biden, facing growing concerns about his age and lagging polling numbers, withdrew his candidacy and backed Harris.
Energetic and two decades younger than 78-year-old Trump, the vice president has made a fast start, raising $310 million in July, according to her campaign -- more than double Trump's haul.
She and her running mate are scheduled to rally Tuesday in Pennsylvania -- a crucial swing state, where Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro is on the shortlist to join Harris's ticket.
Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020 by around 80,000 votes and it is seen as the biggest prize of the closely fought battlegrounds that decide the Electoral College system.
The Keystone State is part of the so-called blue wall that carried Biden to victory in 2020, alongside Michigan and Wisconsin, two states where Harris is due to woo crowds on Wednesday.
She will also tour the more racially diverse Sun Belt and southern states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina as she seeks to shore up the Black and Hispanic vote that had been peeling away from the Democrats.
In a sign that the Harris campaign is thinking big, US media reported that a raft of senior advisors from Barack Obama's historic candidacies in 2008 and 2012 have taken up top positions with her.
While Biden made high-minded appeals for a return to civility and the preservation of democracy, Harris has focused on the future, making voters' hard-fought "freedom" the touchstone of her campaign.
She and her allies have also been more aggressive than the Biden camp -- mocking Trump for reneging on his commitment to a September debate and characterizing the convicted felon as an elderly crook and "weird."
Meanwhile Trump and his Republicans have struggled to adapt to their new adversary or hone their attacks against Harris -- at first messaging that she was dangerously liberal on immigration and crime before pivoting to falsely accusing her of pretending to be Black for political purposes.
Harris unchallenged as Democrats vote for White House nominee
Democratic Presidential candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during the Sigma Gamma Rho’s 60th International Biennial Boule at the George R. Brown Convention Center on 31 July, 2024 in Houston, TexasAFP
Kamala Harris will be confirmed as the Democratic US presidential nominee in an electronic vote starting Thursday that replaces the fanfare of in-person balloting that usually kicks off the party’s national convention.
Less than two weeks after Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, his 52-year-old vice president is in full control of the party, having emerged as the only Democrat in the running to challenge Republican Donald Trump in November.
Just under 4,000 delegates, the grassroots activists and politicians allocated during the primary process, sent in signatures backing Harris to be on the ballot for the five-day electronic vote.
No other Democrats have stepped forward to challenge her elevation to the top of the ticket, making her confirmation as the first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party’s nomination a formality.
She won the support of 99 percent of the delegates who signed petitions, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a statement, while no one else met the qualifying threshold of 300 signatures.
“Our delegates have an important responsibility -- and opportunity -- in the days ahead to cast their history-making ballots for Vice President Harris, ensuring that she will be on the ballot in every state this November,” said DNC chair Jaime Harrison.
“Our party has met this unprecedented moment with a transparent, democratic and orderly process to unite behind a nominee with a proven record who will lead us in the fight ahead.”
As well as the “pledged” delegates there are around 700 so-called “superdelegates” who get to vote because they hold elected office -- such as state governors or members of the US Congress -- or are party officials.
The roll call launches at 9:00 am (1300 GMT) Thursday and delegates have until 6:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Monday to return their votes via an online platform run by the DNC.
‘The American story’
The announcement could come late Monday, as she hits the campaign trail for a swing across seven crucial battleground states with her newly minted running mate, who has not yet been announced.
US media reported that she would kick off the tour in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, although the DNC did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
The 2024 nominating system is largely as it was in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic prevented a large in-person convention, but it is still unusual.
The DNC swapped to a virtual process because of Ohio’s deadline -- Wednesday next week -- for major parties to submit the names of their certified candidates for the November election.
Much remains unclear about the announcement of the results, however.
The DNC has not revealed if the vote will be livestreamed or if a rolling tally will be available to the public, and has not disclosed whether it would make the results public before the end of the voting period if they were available.
The virtual roll-call marks the official beginning of the 2024 convention, although in practice the festivities get going when thousands of the party’s grassroots activists descend on Chicago on 19 August.
There will be ceremonial votes for Harris and her running mate in Illinois, in what is expected to be a raucous celebration of her rise from state politics to the top of the ticket.
“Think about this: her dad is of Jamaican descent, her mother’s of South Asian descent and then she went to the great Howard University, worked in California, worked in the United States Senate,” Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock told a raucous, 10,000-strong crowd at Harris’s rally in Atlanta on Tuesday.
“That is the American story. She brings all of those strands together. She sees us because in a real sense she is all of us.”
US Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at West Allis Central High School during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 23 July, 2024AFP
US vice president Kamala Harris effectively secured the Democratic party's presidential nomination Friday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November's showdown against Republican Donald Trump.
Harris, 59, was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. The first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party's nomination, she will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month.
US vice president Kamala Harris effectively secured the Democratic party's presidential nomination Friday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November's showdown against Republican Donald Trump.
Harris, 59, was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. The first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party's nomination, she will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month.
Harris said on a phone-in to a party celebration she was "honored" to have amassed the required support by the second day of the marathon virtual vote and declared: "We are going to win this election."
"And it is going to take all of us... We are going to talk with people about the fact that we are all in this together, and we stand together," Harris said.
"And so, let's let folks know that our campaign is about the future. And it's about an expansion of rights and freedoms, and for the opportunity of everyone to not just get by, but to get ahead."
In the two weeks since Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Harris has gained full control of the party, smashing fundraising records, packing arenas and erasing the polling leads Trump had built over the president.
"I couldn't be prouder," Biden posted on X after her nomination.
The nomination milestone came with Harris preparing to hit the campaign trail next week for a swing across seven crucial election states alongside her yet-to-be-named running mate.
The roll call -- held earlier than usual and online due to altered state registration rules -- marks the official beginning of the 2024 convention, with the traditional festivities starting when the party faithful descends on Chicago on 19 August.
Wave of momentum
Trump's White House bid was turned upside down on 21 July when 81-year-old Biden, facing growing concerns about his age and lagging polling numbers, withdrew his candidacy and backed Harris.
Energetic and two decades younger than 78-year-old Trump, the vice president has made a fast start, raising $310 million in July, according to her campaign -- more than double Trump's haul.
She and her running mate are scheduled to rally Tuesday in Pennsylvania -- a crucial swing state, where Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro is on the shortlist to join Harris's ticket.
Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020 by around 80,000 votes and it is seen as the biggest prize of the closely fought battlegrounds that decide the Electoral College system.
The Keystone State is part of the so-called blue wall that carried Biden to victory in 2020, alongside Michigan and Wisconsin, two states where Harris is due to woo crowds on Wednesday.
She will also tour the more racially diverse Sun Belt and southern states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina as she seeks to shore up the Black and Hispanic vote that had been peeling away from the Democrats.
In a sign that the Harris campaign is thinking big, US media reported that a raft of senior advisors from Barack Obama's historic candidacies in 2008 and 2012 have taken up top positions with her.
While Biden made high-minded appeals for a return to civility and the preservation of democracy, Harris has focused on the future, making voters' hard-fought "freedom" the touchstone of her campaign.
She and her allies have also been more aggressive than the Biden camp -- mocking Trump for reneging on his commitment to a September debate and characterizing the convicted felon as an elderly crook and "weird."
Meanwhile Trump and his Republicans have struggled to adapt to their new adversary or hone their attacks against Harris -- at first messaging that she was dangerously liberal on immigration and crime before pivoting to falsely accusing her of pretending to be Black for political purposes.
Harris unchallenged as Democrats vote for White House nominee
Democratic Presidential candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during the Sigma Gamma Rho’s 60th International Biennial Boule at the George R. Brown Convention Center on 31 July, 2024 in Houston, TexasAFP
Kamala Harris will be confirmed as the Democratic US presidential nominee in an electronic vote starting Thursday that replaces the fanfare of in-person balloting that usually kicks off the party’s national convention.
Less than two weeks after Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, his 52-year-old vice president is in full control of the party, having emerged as the only Democrat in the running to challenge Republican Donald Trump in November.
Just under 4,000 delegates, the grassroots activists and politicians allocated during the primary process, sent in signatures backing Harris to be on the ballot for the five-day electronic vote.
No other Democrats have stepped forward to challenge her elevation to the top of the ticket, making her confirmation as the first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party’s nomination a formality.
She won the support of 99 percent of the delegates who signed petitions, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a statement, while no one else met the qualifying threshold of 300 signatures.
“Our delegates have an important responsibility -- and opportunity -- in the days ahead to cast their history-making ballots for Vice President Harris, ensuring that she will be on the ballot in every state this November,” said DNC chair Jaime Harrison.
“Our party has met this unprecedented moment with a transparent, democratic and orderly process to unite behind a nominee with a proven record who will lead us in the fight ahead.”
As well as the “pledged” delegates there are around 700 so-called “superdelegates” who get to vote because they hold elected office -- such as state governors or members of the US Congress -- or are party officials.
The roll call launches at 9:00 am (1300 GMT) Thursday and delegates have until 6:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Monday to return their votes via an online platform run by the DNC.
‘The American story’
The announcement could come late Monday, as she hits the campaign trail for a swing across seven crucial battleground states with her newly minted running mate, who has not yet been announced.
US media reported that she would kick off the tour in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, although the DNC did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
The 2024 nominating system is largely as it was in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic prevented a large in-person convention, but it is still unusual.
The DNC swapped to a virtual process because of Ohio’s deadline -- Wednesday next week -- for major parties to submit the names of their certified candidates for the November election.
Much remains unclear about the announcement of the results, however.
The DNC has not revealed if the vote will be livestreamed or if a rolling tally will be available to the public, and has not disclosed whether it would make the results public before the end of the voting period if they were available.
The virtual roll-call marks the official beginning of the 2024 convention, although in practice the festivities get going when thousands of the party’s grassroots activists descend on Chicago on 19 August.
There will be ceremonial votes for Harris and her running mate in Illinois, in what is expected to be a raucous celebration of her rise from state politics to the top of the ticket.
“Think about this: her dad is of Jamaican descent, her mother’s of South Asian descent and then she went to the great Howard University, worked in California, worked in the United States Senate,” Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock told a raucous, 10,000-strong crowd at Harris’s rally in Atlanta on Tuesday.
“That is the American story. She brings all of those strands together. She sees us because in a real sense she is all of us.”
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