In less than two weeks, Vice President Kamala Harris has ascended to launching a record-breaking presidential campaign and gaining enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination for president.
Harris’ campaign made the announcement on Friday, days before the Aug. 7 deadline, multiple news outlets reported.
She ran unopposed in a virtual roll call that began Thursday and ends Monday. By Friday, she secured 2,350 delegates, which is the threshold needed to earn the nomination.
Above all, Democratic officials wanted to avoid an open convention, where potential nominees jockey to gather support from individual delegates. This dynamic can lead to disarray, dividing a party at a time when it ought to be coalescing around a nominee.
The last time the Democratic Party had an open convention was in 1968. Roughly seven months before the election, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he wasn’t going to seek reelection. His second-in-command, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, eventually received the Democratic nomination, but he lost to Republican Richard Nixon.
President Joe Biden congratulated Harris in a post on social media Friday, saying that he “couldn’t be prouder” of her after she earned enough votes to win the nomination.
The momentum around getting Harris into the White House continues to grow, with financial donations pouring in. In less than two weeks, Harris’ campaign has raised $310 million.
Earlier this week, Harris’ likely Republican opponent made false claims about her identity.
Her response just hours later while addressing the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. in Houston? Donald Trump’s National Association of Black Journalists comments were the “same old show” as she emphasized the need for Black women to organize for his defeat this November.