Just over 24 hours after President Biden dropped his flagging bid for a second term, his vice president strode into what was now her campaign headquarters to wild applause and hoots of excitement. Campaign staff had already replaced many of the “Biden-Harris” signs plastered on the walls with new ones that read “Kamala” and “Harris for President.” As she approached the microphones to make her first campaign speech in her new role, her staff began chanting, “Ka-ma-la! Ka-ma-la!”
It was Kamala Harris’ debut as the presumed head of her party’s ticket. But she wasn’t delivering the speech alone. Biden, still recovering from COVID-19, had been patched in on the phone from his beach house in Rehoboth, Del., to thank the campaign staff and praise his chosen successor. “I knew you weren’t going anywhere Joe,” Harris enthused.
The moment functioned like something of a bridge from a campaign that had just ended to one that was just getting started. In less than a day, a rush of rapid-fire endorsements and a fundraising windfall seemed to silence any serious challenge to Harris taking over Biden’s mantle. Her campaign, which began calling itself “Team Harris,” says it brought in $81 million in fundraising over those first 24 hours, and signed up 28,000 new campaign volunteers.
By Monday afternoon, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an influential figure among Democrats who had notably not joined in the wave of endorsements on Sunday, broke her silence and said she had “full confidence” Harris would lead Democrats “to victory in November.” Across much of the party’s leadership, it was a signal that a nomination fight had become increasingly unlikely.
Before her nomination is official, Harris will have to work to ensure she has the votes of 1,976 convention delegates. “It is my intention to go out and earn this nomination, and to win,” Harris told her campaign staff. She previewed the twin engines of her message: Prosecuting the case against Donald Trump and painting for voters a vision for the country that expands rights and access to prosperity beyond the wealthy.
