Kamala Harris has secured the necessary majority of delegate votes to run as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the November election. This was announced by the Democratic Party leadership after Harris achieved the required number of votes in an online vote. Harris will thus run against the former Republican President Donald Trump.
The Democrats moved up their candidate selection process to meet ballot printing deadlines in certain states and scheduled it before the start of the major party convention in mid-August in Chicago. The voting, which began on Thursday, continues until Monday evening. However, Harris has already secured the necessary majority of the approximately 4000 delegate votes. Since she was the only contender, her nomination was considered a formality.
In her statement, the 59-year-old expressed honor and emphasized that the campaign would not be easy, but she was confident that they would succeed. "I know that we are up to this fight," said Harris.
The party leadership called on the delegates who had not yet voted to do so in the coming days. The official final result of the vote will be announced after its conclusion.
The Democratic Party Convention will take place from August 19 to 22 in Chicago. Originally, the nomination of the candidate was supposed to take place there, similar to how the Republicans officially nominated Trump as the presidential candidate at a convention in Milwaukee in July.
The Democrats had already initiated the process months ago to move the nomination forward and handle it digitally. The reason for this was deadlines in the states, by which the parties must confirm their candidates to be on the ballots. A deadline in the state of Ohio played a particularly crucial role, as it expired before the party convention.
Harris became the Democratic frontrunner after U.S. President Joe Biden withdrew from the election campaign. The 81-year-old had been under pressure due to his age and doubts about his mental fitness, and he eventually announced his withdrawal from the presidential race. Biden proposed Harris as his successor, and the party quickly endorsed her.
With the support of the party, Harris is now entering the election campaign against Trump with strengthened momentum. She has already gathered millions in donations and is performing better in early polls than Biden did recently. Whether Harris will actually resonate with the U.S. electorate will become clear in the coming weeks.
Harris could score particularly well with younger voters who have shown little enthusiasm for the 81-year-old incumbent Biden. Women and people of color might also feel more represented by the daughter of a Jamaican and an Indian than by Biden or Trump, who, at 78 years old, is the only "old white man" in the race.
Trump and the Republicans have begun to portray Harris as a "token candidate" because of her gender and skin color, and have otherwise attacked her in racist or sexist ways. In response, Harris emphasizes her contrast to the conservatives, particularly her support for liberal abortion rights.
Harris must primarily defend herself against Republican accusations of being partly responsible for the Biden administration's migration policy. Biden had assigned her the task of “addressing the root causes of migration” as Vice President. Although the numbers of illegal border crossings have recently decreased, they remain a central issue of contention in the U.S. election campaign and are particularly crucial in the so-called swing states.
