Presidential candidacy of VP Kamala Harris catches fire
29th July 2024 · 0 Comments
By Hazel Trice Edney
Contributing Writer
(TriceEdneyWire.com) — President Joe Biden has shocked the nation by withdrawing from his bid for a second term in the White House and immediately endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.
The move has electrified the base and the backbone of the Democratic Party – Black voters and especially Black women. A level of enthusiasm and excitement have caught fire, drawing major endorsements for Harris as Biden support had seriously fizzled among party leaders.
At this writing, Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.); former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); former President Bill Clinton and former Senator Hillary Clinton are just a few of the string of power houses in the Democratic Party who have joined Biden in his endorsement of Harris. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced their endorsement of Harris on last Tuesday. Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama had not made an endorsement on Monday.
Within the first 48 hours of Biden’s announcement on Twitter that he was bowing out of the race against former President Donald Trump, at least $80 million in grassroots donations had poured into Harris’ campaign. That includes more than a million dollars raised during a Zoom call with more than 40,000 people Sunday night, reportedly to stress the importance of Black women in the get out to vote effort.
According to the Washington Informer, speakers on the call included Reps. Joyce Beatty, Maxine Waters, and Jasmine Crockett. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, civil rights leader Bernice King, and Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown were also on the call, according to the Informer.
A similar call with Black men was held Monday, July 22, 35,000 people. They reportedly raised over $1.2 million in just under three hours. The #WinWithBlackMen call was led by talk show host Roland Martin.
President Biden stunned the nation with his mid-day Sunday announcement of his withdrawal. He said he would have more to say this week. Still healing from a case of COVID-19 on last Monday, he had not spoken publicly since releasing the letter amidst increasing pressure to drop out of the race. The pressure began following his poor CNN debate performance against Trump, who told a series of lies during the live broadcast June 27. Democrats had also increasingly complained that Biden, 81, is too old to run again although Trump, at 79, is not that much younger.
In Biden’s letter, declaring he was leaving the campaign, he listed a few of his major accomplishments, including appointing the first Black woman to the U. S. Supreme Court, gun safety legislation, affordable health care and climate legislation. He then stated, “It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Biden continued in a separate statement to fellow Democrats, “I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice president. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
The announcement from Biden, who had been rapidly losing support among fellow Democrats and prospective funders, appeared to set a fire that spread quickly at the prospects of the first Black woman president of the United States. Of African-American and South Asian decent, Harris is a former two-term state attorney general from California and a former U. S. senator who ran an unsuccessful race for president against Biden and a string of other candidates. So far, no serious Democratic contender has announced a challenge to Harris who graciously accepted the nomination.
Support was growing so fast this week that Harris has already received enough Democratic support to win the nomination as the Democratic candidate. Unless another candidate enters and succeeds, Delegates at the Democratic National Convention, to be held Monday, Aug. 19-Thursday, Aug. 22, must cast ballots to confirm her official candidacy. Her big decision now is who will run with her as a vice presidential running mate.
The Harris candidacy comes on the heels of a Republican National Convention the week of July 16 that was deemed majorly successful largely due to an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump July 14. A bullet, shot from a high-powered rifle, by a 20-year-old white man, reportedly grazed his ear and killed another man in the crowd.
Harris spoke publicly for the first time last Monday since Biden’s endorsement. During a White House celebration of the 2023-2024 NCAA Championship Teams, she said, “Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history. In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office.”
Harris continued, “I first came to know President Biden through his son, Beau. We worked together as attorneys general in our states. And back then, Beau would often tell me stories about his dad. He would talk about the kind of father and the kind of man that Joe Biden is. The qualities that Beau revered in his father are the same qualities that I have seen every day in our president: his honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big heart, and his love – deep love – of our country. And I am firsthand witness that every day our president, Joe Biden, fights for the American people. And we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.”
This article originally published in the July 29, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
