Within hours of President Joe Biden announcing he was bowing out of the 2024 race and backing Vice President Kamala Harris, the floodgates opened as Democratic officials across the country lined up to endorse her. Harris raised more than $81 million after Biden's exit from the race.
Biden, who's in isolation at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, was unable to attend a White House event honoring the 2023-24 NCAA championship teams Monday. Harris appeared instead and, in her first remarks since Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her, praised his "unmatched legacy."
"In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who served two terms in office," Harris said.
Later, Harris visited the former Biden-Harris campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. Signs reading "Harris for President" had replaced most of the "Biden-Harris" signs, according to a pool reporter. The staff have Harris a boisterous reception and also heard from Biden, who phoned in with a message of support for the staff and Harris.
Harris, 59, is a Bay Area native who grew up in Oakland. She got her start in elected office as San Francisco district attorney, later successfully running for state attorney general then for U.S. senator. Her own presidential bid in 2020 started off strong, but she ended up dropping out of the race before the Iowa caucuses. Biden then selected her to be his vice presidential running mate.
If elected, Harris would be the first woman president, the second Black president, and the first South Asian U.S. leader. Harris' late mother was a Tamil Indian while her father is Jamaican American.
Since Sunday, Harris has received endorsements from all of the politicians that have been mentioned in recent weeks as possible Democratic presidential candidates. The chatter among Democrats for Biden, 81, to withdraw started almost immediately after the president's disastrous June 27 debate performance against former President Donald Trump, who last week was formally nominated for a third time as the GOP's presidential candidate. In the debate, Biden appeared tired, gave unclear answers at times, and stared into space.
By Monday, she had received enough verbal commitments from Democratic delegates to clinch the nomination.
At 78, Trump is now the oldest presidential nominee in history.
As the Bay Area Reporter noted online Sunday, Biden announced his decision to end his reelection bid with a statement on X posted at 10:46 a.m., with the seconds reflecting his being the country's 46th president. He wrote, "And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term."
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
A few minutes after that statement, Biden posted on X that he's endorsing Harris to replace him as the Democratic presidential nominee. "Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year," he wrote. "Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this."
The party holds its convention beginning August 19 in Chicago. Biden has been isolating at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware since being diagnosed with COVID July 17.
Before Biden's dramatic announcement, several Democrats had been mentioned as possible presidential candidates. They include Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gavin Newsom of California, Wes Moore of Maryland, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and Andy Beshear of Kentucky. By Monday morning, all had endorsed Harris for president.
Newsom, thought to have his own presidential ambitions at some point, made it clear he was supporting his fellow Californian this time around.
"With our democracy at stake and our future on the line, no one is better to prosecute the case against Donald Trump's dark vision and guide our country in a healthier direction than America's Vice President, @kamalaharris," the governor stated on X.
Gay Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who, along with Harris, ran for president in 2020, also endorsed the vice president.
Harris and Buttigieg had appeared together at a campaign fundraiser in Provincetown, Massachusetts last Saturday, just hours before Biden announced his decision. The event was attended by more than 800 people and raised over $2 million. Celebrities on hand included actors Jennifer Coolidge, Billy Porter, and Darren Criss.
Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is backing Harris. In a post on X, he noted he was at her kickoff in 2019 for the 2020 race. "This time we're sending her all the way. Let's go," he wrote.
Notably, Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and former President Barack Obama initially praised Biden's decision to leave the race but stopped short of backing Harris. Pelosi and Obama had been among those gently nudging Biden to withdraw. Monday morning, Pelosi endorsed Harris.
"I have full confidence she will lead us to victory in November," Pelosi stated.
Harris has also secured backing from hundreds of Democratic Congressmembers and senators. California's two senators, Laphonza Butler and Alex Padilla, have endorsed her. Gay Congressmember Mark Takano (D-Riverside), announced his support, as did Congressmember Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), who is running for the Senate seat currently held by Butler. (Newsom appointed Butler to the Senate after the death last year of Dianne Feinstein and Butler opted not to seek a full term.) Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), who lost to Schiff in the March primary for the Senate seat, endorsed Harris.
Tough race
While Democrats are quickly coalescing around Harris, polling suggests the November race will be tough. Five of the six battleground states — Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada — have had Trump leading, while it's close in Wisconsin, where the GOP just had its convention. The New York Times reported in a Trump-Harris matchup, the former president leads by two points nationally, 48% to 46%. The paper reported it's a one-point improvement over Biden versus Trump. But presidents are elected based on state Electoral Colleges, which is why state polling is more relevant.
In a swing state poll taken before the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump and before Biden dropped out, in a hypothetical matchup between Trump and Harris, she was down by only one point in Pennsylvania and led Trump by 5 points in Virginia, a state where Biden was ahead by only a razor-thin margin, the paper reported.
There is also Harris' failed 2020 presidential race. That campaign became chaotic as Harris delivered muddled messages. She was seen as progressive on some issues, but more progressive voters couldn't get over that she was a former prosecutor.
One of her first acts as San Francisco district attorney, which is almost certain to be used against her by Republicans should she be the presidential nominee, is her decision not to seek the death penalty against David Hill, a gang member who gunned down San Francisco Police officer Isaac Espinoza in 2004. Hill was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Harris had campaigned on a platform against capital punishment, but Espinoza's family was angered by her decision, as were some political leaders, such as the late senator Feinstein. At the same time, legal experts doubted a San Francisco jury would return a death sentence, as SF Gate reported.
In 2019, California instituted a moratorium on capital punishment that remains in place.
Bright spots
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion in Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Harris has been an outspoken advocate of reproductive fights, which has been a winning issue for Democrats at the ballot box. So far, four states have had initiatives on the ballot to protect access to the procedure and those have all passed, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Two other states had initiatives on the ballot to curtail access and those both failed. This November could see as many as 11 states have abortion-related measures on the ballot, KFF noted.
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