Harris scrambles to lock up White House bid, Trump campaign pivots

[July 22, 2024]  By Nandita Bose, Jarrett Renshaw and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was moving swiftly on Monday to try to lock up the Democratic presidential nomination, the day after President Joe Biden, 81, abandoned his reelection bid in the face of growing opposition by his own party.

Harris, 59, was due to speak at the White House at 11:30 a.m. ET (1530 GMT) on Monday. Campaign officials and allies have already made hundreds of calls on her behalf, urging delegates to next month's Democratic Party convention to join in nominating her for president in the Nov. 5 election against Republican Donald Trump.

Biden's exit was the latest shock to a White House race that in the past 10 days has seen former President Trump nearly assassinated by a gunman during a campaign stop before he locked in fellow hardliner U.S. Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.

"My intention is to earn and win this nomination," Harris said in a statement. "I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump."

Harris, who is Black and Asian-American, would fashion an entirely new dynamic with Trump, 78, offering a vivid generational and cultural split-screen. The Trump campaign has been preparing for her possible rise for weeks, sources told Reuters, and planned to try to tie her closely to Biden's policies on immigration and the economy.

Biden, the oldest person ever to have occupied the Oval Office, said he would remain in the presidency until his term ends on Jan. 20, 2025, while endorsing Harris to run in his place.

A disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump led Biden's fellow Democrats to urge him to end his run, and senior Republicans have already begun calling on him to resign from office, arguing that if he is not fit to campaign, he is not fit to govern.

Harris spoke with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a potential vice presidential running mate, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Congressional Black Caucus chair Representative Steven Horsford, said a source familiar with the matter.

Biden's withdrawal leaves less than four months to wage a campaign. Prominent Democrats, including potential Harris challengers such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, immediately backed the vice president.

Trump, whose false claims that his 2020 loss to Biden was the result of fraud inspired the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, on Monday questioned Democrats' right to change candidates.

"They stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries," Trump said on his Truth Social site.

Despite the early show of support for Harris, talk of an open convention when Democrats gather in Chicago Aug. 19-22 was not totally silenced.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama did not announce endorsements, although both praised Biden.

Two other potential challengers - Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear - made no mention of the vice president in their statements.

With Democrats wading into uncharted territory, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said the party would soon announce the next steps in its nomination process.

ABORTION RIGHTS LEADER

A former California attorney general and former U.S. senator, Harris ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2020.

Biden won the nomination, picked Harris to be his vice president, and went on to beat Trump.

US Vice President Kamala Harris and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (not pictured) give a joint press conference at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany February 17, 2024. TOBIAS SCHWARZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Harris has been outspoken on abortion rights, an issue that resonates with younger voters and more liberal Democrats.

She is expected to stick largely to Biden's foreign policy playbook on such issues as China, Iran and Ukraine, but could strike a tougher tone with Israel over the Gaza war if she tops the Democratic ticket and wins the November election.

Proponents argue she would energize those voters, consolidate Black support and bring sharp debating skills to prosecute the political case against the former president.

But some Democrats were concerned about a Harris candidacy, in part because of the weight of a long history of racial and gender discrimination in the United States, which has not elected a woman president in its nearly 250 year history.

Polling shows that Harris performs no better statistically than Biden had done against Trump.

In a head-to-head match-up, Harris and Trump were tied with 44% support each in a July 15-16 Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted immediately after the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump.

Trump led Biden 43% to 41% in that same poll, though the 2 percentage point difference was not meaningful considering the poll's 3-point margin of error.

Biden's campaign had $95 million on hand at the end of June, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. Trump's campaign ended the month with $128 million. Campaign finance law experts disagree on how easily that money could be shifted to a Harris-led campaign.

Harris' campaign had raised $49.6 million since Biden's exit, a campaign spokesperson said on Monday.

LAST-MINUTE SHIFT

Biden has not been seen in public since testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. He was isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

"I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term," Biden wrote on X. He is tentatively planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, if he has recovered.

During the 2020 campaign, Biden described himself as a bridge to the next generation. Some interpreted that to mean he would serve one term, a transitional figure who beat Trump and brought his party back to power.

But Biden decided to seek reelection, believing he could beat Trump again. His campaign was already struggling and ran into deep trouble after his debate performance raised serious concerns about his ability to win the election or stay on as president for another four years.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Jarrett Renshaw and Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Susan Heavey; Writing by Scott Malone and Frank McGurty; Editing by Howard Goller, William Maclean)

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