Vice President Kamala Harris secured enough delegate support on Monday to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, but polls show votes still have to be cast before she can be declared the party’s nominee.
Harris has the backing of at least 2,214 delegates, according to an Associated Press tally of Democratic delegates backing the 59-year-old vice president.
Harris was endorsed by President Biden as his leading 2024 Democratic presidential candidate shortly after her shock withdrawal announcement on Sunday, but she needs the support of at least 1,976 delegates to receive the nomination.
But the former California senator is not yet the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, despite having passed the key delegate threshold.
Democratic delegates are free to vote for any candidate at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month or in a virtual roll call that, until Biden’s announcement, was scheduled to take place on Aug. 7 ahead of the convention.
“I am proud to have secured the broad support I needed to be my party’s nominee, and as a Californian, I am proud that my home state’s delegation has helped make our campaign a success,” Harris said in a statement Monday night.
It is unclear whether the Democratic National Committee still plans to go ahead with the virtual nominating process, the fastest in the nation, announced in May as a way to help Biden meet Ohio’s voting deadline.
The Ohio State Legislature passed a bill in late May to extend the state’s voting deadline from Aug. 7 to Sept. 1, but some Democrats worry that Republicans will challenge the new date and block Democratic candidates from voting in Ohio.
Most Democrats, eager to avoid the intraparty drama in Chicago and the possibility of a public or brokered convention the likes of which have not been seen in decades, quickly rallied to Harris as the leader of the Democratic field in November.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., stopped short of endorsing Harris on Monday.
“Vice President Kamala Harris is off to a great start by pledging to seek the presidential nomination in a grassroots, transparent process established by the Democratic National Committee,” Democratic leaders said in a joint statement.
Harris has not yet been endorsed by Barack Obama, but the former president has left the Democratic nomination up to “party leaders” who can “create a process that will produce a quality nominee.”
An update on President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race:
If Harris is officially selected as the Democratic nominee, she will soon have to choose a running mate to campaign with her.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have all been mentioned as possible running mates for Harris.
The Biden campaign officially changed its name to “Harris Campaign for President” on Sunday, signaling that the vice president will inherit the 81-year-old president’s $240 million war chest and more than 1,000 staff members.
Harris raised $81 million from more than 888,000 donors in the 24 hours after endorsing Biden, her campaign said, a fundraising record for a presidential election.
