Harris leads Democratic and rallying party forces to fight Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris has already secured the backing of major Democratic power brokers for her prospective presidential campaign. This move is intended to quell the chaos roiling her party and redraw a contest that now looks like Donald Trump's to lose.

When President Joe Biden dropped out of the race less than 24 hours later, it was clear that Harris had a clear chance to grab the nomination. None of the other high-profile Democrats said they would try to unseat her. She won support from party elites, including the Democratic governors mentioned as potential candidates: California's Gavin Newsom, Illinois' JB Pritzker, and Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer.

Nancy Pelosi, Former House Speaker and someone who reportedly helped nudge Biden toward the exit supported Harris on Monday, making her part one step larger as Democratic floodgates continue to close behind Joe's bid.

"Let me tell you my goal is not just to go out and win that nomination, but it's also to earn this nomination," Harris told the workers at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday. In the months ahead, I will work with you all to unite the Democratic Party and the American people; please, let us come together in this last election.

Biden, who has been in quarantine after testing positive for the virus at his beach home in Delaware, called into the campaign meeting to tell him he would be "working like hell" for his vice president's effort.

Biden has acknowledged that he won't be on the ticket but insisted: "I'm still going to put my coat on every day. I will be doing whatever Kamala tells me. I need to do it.

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Harris had started making calls, asking party officials, labor leaders, activist groups, and senior Democratic lawmakers to commit their support by Sunday night. The two former presidents were Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton - the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016 - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries from Brooklyn.

Harris assumed control of the Biden campaign, which was rebranded "Harris for President," and funneled her $96 million war chest to do so. The campaign also increased by $81 million on that total in the first 24 hours following Harris's race to Minji from Sudan. She planned to rally staffers to a campaign headquarters in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, late Monday. She said the campaign's leadership - chair Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez - would stay on.

Harris will hold her first presidential campaign rally on Tuesday at Battleground Wisconsin. This is an opportunity to take the fight right at Trump and beyond some of the internal controversies over Biden's age that splintered her party.

CNN reported that Schumer, a New York Democrat, will likely support Harris, as will Jeffries.

In an interview on Monday, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida - a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee who supported Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s campaign this year - said she expected Ms. Harris to win over enough pledged delegates "pretty soon." She had just short of half the delegates she needed to constitute a presumptive nominee as Monday headed toward noon.

"Her moment, and her - she has earned that spot," Wasserman Schultz told reporters on a conference call.

According to Council, another indication of how quickly and widely the Harris wave spread was the AFL-CIO's" unanimous endorsement" of her on Monday.

Over the last month, events have plunged the US into unprecedented political territory, and Harris will have much to contend with in the weeks ahead. Republicans pounced on Biden's bowing out before the Democrats hold their nominating convention this summer as a betrayal of primary voters. Harris's own Democratic colleagues have also been calling for a fair nomination process.

Harris has to settle on how she'll handle a runner-up slot, woo back some disappointed voters who shunned Biden before early voting begins in September, and brace for what is certain to be the nastiest presidential race focused primarily on character attacks against an opponent that this country has ever seen from Trump.

Kamala Harris's path to the party nomination is a fate that helps her save face as Vice President. Just one month ago, her political future seemed in doubt - Harris' 2020 presidential campaign collapsed before any votes were cast, and she stumbled through the early days of being vice president. Republicans have already seized upon her appointment to the root causes of migration as early fodder for attacks.

VP Options

However, Ms. Harris's ability to quickly generate support from leading Democrats highlights how she has made inroads into key Democratic constituencies, including civil-rights leaders and big donors. If he snubs the first black, Asian, and female vice president for a white man, that may indicate something else entirely - that alienating voters of color and suburban women is still going nowhere for Democrats.

The winnowing began long ago, but Harris will soon pick her running mate. The speculation has revolved around a bunch of White male elected officials - you know, many from battleground states. In addition, an entire string of governors Josh Shapiro (D-Pa), Roy Cooper (D-N.C.,) Mark Kelly(D-Az), Andy Beshear(Ky-D,) and Tim Walz(Mn-D—have also been mentioned). When CBS's Lansing affiliate asked about the post, Whitmer replied she was uninterested.

Biden endorsed Harris on Sunday, less than an hour after he left the race, and other senior Democrats quickly followed - among them Bill and Hillary Clinton or Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a progressive icon. This includes Wall Street and Silicon Valley heavyweights George Soros, Alex Soros, Evercore Inc. Vice Chair Roger Altman, and Greylock Partners co-founder Reid Hoffman - an encouraging reversal from the mass donor exits that bedeviled Biden's campaign.

A senior aide for the pro-Biden super political action committee Future Forward said donors who had never previously given or had paused giving are holding off on another $150 million in new pledges and expect Biden to exit to avoid receiving those funds.

Obama was the most obvious no-show in the first hours, having said he wouldn't issue an endorsement until a nominee was known.

In the days to come, we will be charting some new territory. In a Sunday statement, Obama said he has "absolute confidence that the Democratic Party will create an environment where any candidate can emerge to become our strongest nominee."

Race Renewed

Democratic voters appeared to lap up the race's newfound dynamic, following weeks of angst that had seen Trump pull closer in polling averages. ActBlue, the party's online donation platform, reported that Democrats raised more than $50 million over Sunday alone.

In a CBS News/YouGov poll released this week, Harris ran within single digits of Trump nationally, while Biden led by wider margins. That same New York Times/Siena College poll had Harris, a California senator, outperforming Biden by 2 points in the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

If Harris, 59, enters the race to challenge Trump, 78, as a younger and more vigorous new standard-bearer of Democratic values - focused especially on abortion rights but equally happy to mix it up in other areas - she would be immediately competitive. The biggest splash she made in the 2020 race was attacking Biden about busing for school integration during a Democratic debate.

Still, Harris has weaknesses: a challenging track record, over-and-much staff turnover during her tenure as attorney general, and lingering questions about whether she can connect on the retail level with voters. Republicans see an opportunity here, but questions persist over her domestic and foreign policy agenda.