– In the two weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris took over from President Biden as the Democratic national campaign leader, her life has been largely going well.
The party, eager to stop former President Trump from returning to the White House, quickly rallied behind Harris. The vice president saw a surge in donations, raising more than double Trump’s fundraising in July, and volunteers flocked to her campaign office as she replaced Biden.
And the small lead Trump had built over Biden in the weeks following his disastrous debate performance in late June was wiped out in an instant as the latest national and key battleground state polls showed the race between Harris and the former president was within the margin of error.
But in the next few hours, Harris will enter a crucial week as she decides who she will choose as her Democratic running mate.
Harris goes after Trump in fundraising surge
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Harris was in the nation’s capital this weekend and met with some of the roughly six vice presidential candidates, a Democratic source confirmed to Fox News.
Those on the list include Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, while sources say Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are also on the list.
Vetting, selecting and interviewing a vice presidential candidate typically takes several months, but these are far from normal times for Democrats, and Harris faces an incredibly short process.
2024 AD Wars: Trump competes to select VP Harris
While Harris and her team have remained largely silent about her vice presidential pick, the candidate’s allies have continued to make their case and interest groups within the party have also made their preferences known.
Harris’ announcement in the next few hours is likely to disappoint some supporters of candidates who were not named as the vice presidential nominee and could exacerbate the intraparty policy divide that has been on paper for the past two weeks.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at West Allis Central High School during a campaign rally on July 23, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
Harris and her running mate will hold a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday as they kick off an ambitious, jam-packed tour of seven battleground states that are likely to decide the outcome of the presidential election: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
The vice president held his first large rally since succeeding Biden on the Democratic nomination list last week at the Georgia State Convention Center in Atlanta, drawing more than 10,000 people.
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“It’s the first time in this race that a Democratic candidate has drawn crowds comparable to the large audiences that Trump has regularly drawn during his more than 18 months of campaigning to return to the White House. The size and energy of the crowds that Harris draws during her tour of battleground states this week will be closely watched.
Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, held a rally at the same venue in Atlanta on Saturday, where the former president continued his relentless attacks and insults against Harris.
In social media posts and at a rally early Saturday, Trump accused Harris of having a “low IQ” and being “stupid” and lacking “mental capacity.”
Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta on Saturday, August 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Harris’ campaign fired back Sunday morning, claiming that Trump is “weak…struggling…panic…Donald Trump is running scared.”
Harris has yet to give any major interviews since succeeding Biden, prompting criticism from the Trump campaign.
“It’s been 13 days since Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee and she has yet to give a single media interview,” Vance emphasized in a social media post on Saturday.
Harris will officially clinch the party’s presidential nomination this week when the Democratic National Committee’s virtual roll call concludes at 6pm ET, but it will be a less dramatic development as only the vice president qualified for the roll call.
Roll call began on Thursday, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison announced Friday that Harris had won the nomination with a majority of the delegate votes at the party’s nominating convention, which begins in Chicago in two weeks.
While the past two weeks have gone better than many expected, Harris’ campaign is well aware that there are still three months until the November election.
“It is the Harris campaign’s job to translate the unprecedented energy behind the vice president into action,” said Dan Kanninen, battleground states director.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
