Harris declares her presidential candidacy as she launches, calling Biden’s record “unmatched”

At her first public appearance since Joe Biden abruptly withdrew his reelection candidacy and supported her as his successor on Monday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris praised the president for his dedication to the nation.

“At a White House event honoring college athletes, Harris stated that Joe Biden’s legacy over the last three years is unmatched in modern history.” “Every day, our president, Joe Biden, fights for the American people and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.”

After Biden resigned on Sunday due to mounting pressure from fellow Democrats, Harris is now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, she made no mention of this in her remarks.

Hundreds of calls have already been placed on Harris’s behalf by campaign staff and supporters, pleading with Democratic Party convention delegates to support her candidacy for president in the Nov. 5 election against Republican Donald Trump.

With the nomination of fellow hardliner U.S. Senator J.D. Vance as Trump’s running mate and the near-assassination of former President Trump during a campaign visit, Biden’s exit was the most recent bombshell to hit the White House race.

In a post on X, Harris announced that she would spend Monday afternoon at the Harris campaign offices in Delaware, which was formerly the Biden campaign headquarters. After testing positive for COVID-19 last week, she stated Biden was feeling better.

Almost all of the well-known Democrats who were anticipated to run against Harris have thrown their support behind her, including the governors of Michigan, California, and Kentucky, Gretchen Whitmer, and Andy Beshear.

In a statement released on Sunday, Harris stated, “My intention is to earn and win this nomination.” “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump.”

With Trump, 78, Harris, a Black and Asian American, would create a whole new dynamic that would give a striking age and cultural contrast.
Sources informed Reuters that the Trump campaign has been gearing itself for her potential ascent for weeks. On Monday, it released a thorough assessment of her record on immigration and other matters, charging that she is more liberal than Biden.

It claimed that Harris supports the so-called Green New Deal, the administration’s mandates for electric vehicles, the decriminalization of border crossings, the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and “defund the police” initiatives.

Certain stances that Harris took on while campaigning for president in 2020, when she was running on a more liberal platform than Biden, were not ones that the administration took on, especially when it came to matters of law enforcement and border security.
At eighty-one, Biden is the oldest person to have held the President. He declared that he will serve as president until his tenure expires on January 20, 2025.

leading Republicans have asked that Biden resign from government, stating that if he is unfit to lead, he is not fit to campaign. This is in contrast to leading Democrats who urged Biden to end his campaign after his lackluster June 27 debate performance against Trump.

According to sources, Harris spent her Sunday making phone calls while wearing a Howard University sweatshirt, eating pizza with anchovies, and speaking with representatives from the Congressional Black Caucus, Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the House Democratic Caucus, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is reportedly considering running for vice president.

Trump on Monday questioned Democrats’ right to switch candidates, a move that was spurred by his bogus accusations that Biden’s 2020 loss was the product of fraud and which led to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

On his Truth Social website, Trump said that “they stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries.”

Even with the initial outpouring of support for Harris, there was some discussion of holding an open convention when Democrats convene in Chicago from August 19–22.

Although they both complimented Biden, former president Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not publicly announce their endorsements. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a significant Democratic fundraiser, urged the party to “take the pulse of voters” before making a decision in a post on X that omitted any mention of Harris.

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said the party will soon reveal the next steps in its nominating process, acknowledging that Democrats are entering uncharted territory.

LEADER FOR ABORTION RIGHTS

After selecting Harris to be his vice president after winning the party’s 2020 nomination, Biden defeated Trump. She was a senator from the United States and the attorney general of California.

about China, Iran, and Ukraine, Harris is anticipated to mainly follow Biden’s foreign policy playbook. However, if she wins the Democratic ticket and the November election, she may take a more assertive stance against Israel about the Gaza War.

She has been vocal about her support for abortion rights, a cause that appeals to younger people and more progressive Democrats.

Her supporters contend that in addition to bringing great debate skills to the political case against the former president, she would invigorate those voters and unite Black support.

However, other Democrats expressed apprehension about Harris’s candidacy, partly due to the country’s lengthy history of discrimination based on race and gender and the fact that it has never elected a female president in its roughly 250-year history.

According to polling, Harris’s statistical performance against Trump is no better than Biden’s.

A head-to-head survey done by Reuters/Ipsos on July 15–16, right after Trump’s attempted assassination on July 13–showed Harris and Trump tied at 44% of the vote apiece.

In that same poll, Trump led Biden 43% to 41%; but, given the poll’s 3-point margin of error, the 2-percentage-point difference was not significant.

As of the end of June, Biden’s campaign had $95 million on hand, per a Federal Election Commission filing. At the conclusion of the month, Trump’s campaign had $128 million. Experts in campaign finance law dispute on how simple it would be to transfer those funds to a campaign managed by Harris.

Within twenty-four hours of Biden’s resignation, Harris’ campaign had raised $49.6 million, according to a spokesperson on Monday.

In support of Harris’s presidential campaign, more than 44,000 Black women and supporters, including Representatives Maxine Waters, Jasmine Crockett, and Joyce Beatty, participated in a three-hour call on Sunday night, raising over $1.5 million, according to organizers who spoke with Reuters.

Since Wednesday, when his COVID test came back positive, Biden has not been sighted in public. He was spending time alone himself at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home. If he recovers, he may visit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.