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Just two days before the 2024 presidential election was thrown into chaos with President Joe Biden’s stunning announcement that he would not seek re-election, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on a major donor call that left attendees feeling “frustrated,” according to a new report.
The call, attended by some 300 major Democratic donors, was “mismanaged” and “rushed,” a source who attended told NBC News. The reportedly disastrous event was organized after weeks and weeks of mounting calls for President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race, pressure he finally bowed to on Sunday afternoon, telling the nation that he’d decided it was “in the best interest of my party and the country” to call it quits and endorse Harris as the Democratic nominee.
“It was a total failure,” an anonymous attendee told NBC News. “It was damaging. It was poor planning.”
Another donor reportedly unmuted during the conversation, calling the event “ludicrous.” The call was organized by Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chair, according to NBC News. The sources also noted the frustration was not with Harris herself, NBC News reports.
A source who attended also told NBC News that donors were “admonished” and told to get behind Biden as the candidate.
When the call was held Friday night, 36 Democratic representatives and senators had already publicly urged Biden to drop out of the 2024 race. That number rose to 37 on Sunday, with Democrat-turned-Independent Senator Joe Manchin calling on the president to step down.
A group of activists also held a ‘pass the torch’ rally outside the White House on Saturday afternoon.
“We only have less than 4 months to figure out how to win this election together,” one speaker said at the rally. “And we can do it — matter of fact, we have to do it.”
While Biden endorsed Harris in his withdrawal announcement, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi is looking to prevent the vice president from automatically taking the nomination, Politico and The New York Times reported.
Pelosi is not against a Harris-led ticket, according to the Times. Instead, Pelosi is advocating for an open nomination process at next month’s Democratic National Convention, arguing that Harris — or any other potential candidate — would be strengthened by earning the title, the Times reports.
As the Democratic party remains in flux, Donald Trump and JD Vance held their first campaign rally this weekend since the deadly Butler, Pennsylvania event last weekend.
Trump addressed Thomas Crooks’ assassination attempt against him at Saturday’s rally, telling the audience he “shouldn’t be here.”
The Independent has contacted Biden’s campaign for comment.
