US VICE PRESIDENT Kamala Harris has formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first woman of colour to feature at the top of a major party’s ticket.
Her nomination became official after a five-day round of online balloting by Democratic National Convention delegates ended last night. The party had long contemplated the early virtual roll call to ensure Biden would appear on the ballot in every state.
More than four years after her first attempt at the presidency collapsed, Harris’ coronation as her party’s standard-bearer caps a tumultuous and frenetic period for Democrats prompted by President Joe Biden’s disastrous June debate performance.
That shattered his own supporters’ confidence in his re-election prospects and spurred extraordinary intraparty warfare about whether he should stay in the race.
The Democratic National Convention said it would next formally certify the vote before holding a celebratory roll call at the party’s convention later this month in Chicago.
Her nomination kickstarts starts a crucial week that includes her most critical decision yet – choosing a running mate – while grappling with how to keep the early political momentum of her election campaign alive.
Harris has a deadline of Tuesday to select who will be her number two from a list that has been whittled down to four governors, a senator and a cabinet official who was also one of her 2020 foes.
It is a high-pressure decision that usually spans several months, but in this case is compressed into a matter of just weeks.
From there, Harris and her running mate will launch into an aggressive, seven-state battleground tour that begins in Philadelphia on Tuesday and winds through Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Her early rallies have attracted enthusiastic thousands.
With reporting by PA
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