United States Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the votes needed to become the Democratic 2024 presidential nominee, the party’s chairman said, setting up a November showdown against Republican Donald Trump.
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said on Friday that Harris had crossed the threshold of delegate votes needed to clinch the nomination. The online voting process – known as a virtual roll call – does not formally end until Monday.
“I am so proud to confirm that Vice President Harris has earned more than a majority of votes from all convention delegates, and will be the nominee of the Democratic Party following the close of voting on Monday,” Harrison said during a call with supporters.
Harris, the first Black and the first Asian American vice president in US history, is now poised to be the first woman of colour at the top of a major US political party’s ticket.
“I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I will officially accept the nomination next week,” she wrote on social media.
“This campaign is about people coming together, fueled by love of country, to fight for the best of who we are.”
Coming only a day after the virtual roll call began, the widely expected announcement followed a statement from Harris’s campaign that said it had raised $310m last month amid a surge in small donations.
The campaign said the July figure includes more than $200m in donations in the week after President Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election campaign.
Harris has secured strong backing from her party since she entered the race, with Harrison – the DNC chair – saying on Friday that Democrats planned to “rally around” her during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this month.
Harris’s campaign also said two-thirds of its July donations came from first-time donors, signalling “tremendous support” for her candidacy.
The sum is more than double the $138.7m raised in July by former President Trump, the GOP’s 2024 nominee.
“There has never been anything like the MAGA Movement,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday evening, referring to supporters who rally under his Make America Great Again slogan.
“We raised $139 Million Dollars in July alone. We now have a whopping $327 Million Cash On Hand. Spectacular support from Great American Patriots who are donating to our Campaign for President of the United States, and helping out in many other ways,” he said.
Eyes turn to Harris’s VP pick
Trump launched ad hominem attacks against Harris this week, including questions about her racial identity that critics slammed as “repulsive”.
The heated rhetoric comes as recent opinion polls suggested a tight race between Trump and Harris as the November 5 election nears, with several swing states expected to be key to who wins the White House.
Harris is also expected to soon announce her vice-presidential running mate, a decision that could provide a boost in those critical battleground states.
Several names have been floated as being on the vice president’s list, including Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s John Hendren said Harris will be looking to pick a candidate “who does no harm” – the importance of which has been highlighted by the Republican presidential campaign.
“Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, has said a number of things that have gotten him into trouble and that have gotten bad press for the campaign,” Hendren noted.
A Harris-Trump debate?
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC’s) newest advertising campaign, launched on Friday, taunted Trump for not committing to a debate with Harris.
The DNC has bought large advertisements that dominate the digital homepages of major local newspapers in states where Trump plans to campaign in the coming weeks. The advertisements say “the convicted felon is afraid to debate” and question whether that is due to his stance on abortion.
Trump in May became the first former president in US history to be convicted of a crime when he was found guilty in a New York hush-money case.
He also previously boasted that he “was able to kill Roe v Wade”, the legal precedent that had guaranteed abortion access nationwide but was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.
Trump appointed three justices to the top US court during his presidency, giving it a conservative majority.
The DNC said its first ads are running on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s homepage before Trump’s visit to the Georgia state capital on Saturday and the advertisement campaign will follow him through local news outlets at each rally stop.
Biden dropped out of the race after a disastrous July debate performance against Trump that raised questions about his age and ability to serve another term in office.
Trump has suggested a planned September 10 debate on ABC News should be moved to Fox News.
In a phone call with reporters last week, Trump was asked if he would commit to debating Harris at least once. “Oh, yes, absolutely. I’d want to,” he responded.
