Earlier this week, Michelle and I called a friend. Kamala HarrisWe told her that she would be a great president of the United States and that we have her full support. At this critical moment for our country, we are going to do everything in our power to ensure that she wins… pic.twitter.com/0UIS0doIbA
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 26, 2024
Former President Barack Obama and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, some of the most visible opponents among Democratic Party leaders, have formally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
President Obama, 62, who had at least one publicly-publicized phone call with Harris on Sunday, was full of praise for her, saying she has “the vision, character and strength that is needed at this critical moment.”
“Earlier this week, Michelle and I called our friend, Kamala Harris,” the former president said. I wrote to X Friday.
“We told her she would be a great president of the United States and we have her full support. At this critical time for our country, we will do everything in our power to help her win in November, and we ask that you join us.”
Other party leaders quickly endorsed Harris, including Biden, who endorsed her shortly after announcing his intention to drop out of the 2024 presidential race on July 21.
Top Democrats, including Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), have also given her their official endorsement.
Here’s the latest on Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.
But President Obama, who has a history of being cautious about his endorsements during presidential elections, was slow to endorse Harris.
The hesitation was driven in part by a desire not to spoil a presidential moment, such as a prime-time speech Wednesday about Biden’s historic decision to drop out of the race. NBC reported.
“Joe Biden has served the American people his whole life and has stayed true to his word time and time again. Thank you, @POTUS,” Obama said. I wrote to X after Biden’s speech..
Moreover, people familiar with Obama’s thinking reportedly believe he delayed his endorsement to bolster her support.
The newly renamed Harris presidential campaign claims to have raised more than $100 million between Sunday afternoon and Monday night, and Ms. Harris appears eager to prolong her political honeymoon.
In the 2020 and 2016 elections, President Obama did not endorse Biden or Hillary Clinton until it was clear they would win their respective primaries.
“I don’t want to put it on the scale,” President Obama told aides at the time. According to the New York Times:.
Obama also remained publicly silent about the growing Democratic rebellion against Biden that erupted after his performance in last month’s debate with former President Donald Trump.
He had It said in a statement “Bad debate nights happen,” he said, arguing that “this election is a choice between someone who has spent their whole life fighting for ordinary people and someone who only thinks about themselves.”
After Biden made the historically unprecedented decision to withdraw from the race, President Obama praised his former number two and expressed confidence that the “process” of finding a successor would continue.
“We will be navigating uncharted waters going forward, but I have extraordinary confidence that party leadership can create a process that will produce quality candidates,” he said. He wrote in a Medium post No mention of Harris.
On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee’s rules committee voted to effectively crown the nominee ahead of the party’s convention next month.
That means Harris will likely have to announce her running mate by the end of the first week of August at the earliest.
Harris’ team is busy vetting candidates with just over three months until election night.
