Harris solidifies Democratic support and is favorite to replace Biden on ticket

Amna Nawaz:

Vice President Kamala Harris is entering uncharted territory after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race yesterday. One day later, Harris is already the favorite to win the Democratic Party nomination for president.

Laura Barron-Lopez has the latest.

(Cheering)

(Applause)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Granted by a resounding applause, Vice President Harris arrived at her campaign office in Wilmington, Delaware, this afternoon ahead of her first campaign event as a presidential candidate.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: With the COVID — excuse me — with…

Laura Barron-Lopez:

It comes 25 days after President Biden's disastrous debate performance that raised questions about his ability to run.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD):

There are very honest and serious and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

For weeks, the president faced mounting pressure from allies in his own party to end his campaign.

Joe Biden:

I am running and going to win again.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

But he insisted that he was all in and almost nothing could convince him to drop out.

Joe Biden:

If the lord almighty came down and said, "Joe, get out of the race," I would get out of the race. The lord almighty is not coming down.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Then, during a weekend of isolation at his home in Delaware with a COVID diagnosis, President Biden announced his decision.

He wrote in a letter posted on the social media site X Sunday: "It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president, but it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down."

Shortly after, he threw his full support behind Harris. Top Democrats like the Obamas, the Clintons, and leaders in Congress praised Biden's decision to drop out. Even former Vice President Mike Pence applauded the move, writing on X today: "President Joe Biden made the right decision for our country, and I thank him for putting the interests of our nation ahead of his own."

Harris herself praised the president at the White House this morning.

Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: Every day, our president, Joe Biden, fights for the American people, and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Many Democrats quickly united behind Harris. In its first 24 hours, Harris' campaign racked up $81 million in donations, the highest 24-hour raise, her team said, of any candidate in history.

Some who were seen as possible competitors to Harris lined up behind her.

Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY):

I'm excited to fully endorse Vice President Harris.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear gave his backing this morning, but sidestepped questions about whether he'd serve as her running mate.

Gov. Andy Beshear:

The only way I would consider something other than this current job is if I believed I could further help my people and to help this country.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper delivered a similar message.

Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC):

Kamala Harris is the person. She's excited to win this thing, and I am too.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Meanwhile, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer gave her endorsement, but said she would not accept the vice presidency if offered it.

Question:

If they offer it, you will not take it?

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer(D-MI):

I am not leaving Michigan.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker also said they support Harris.

Though holding back an endorsement, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin confirmed today that he will not challenge the vice president for the nomination.

Question:

So, you are not interested in running for office, true, for the presidency?

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV):

I'm not running. I'm not running for office.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

On the right, a different story. House Speaker Mike Johnson rebuked Biden's decision to drop out.

He wrote in a statement that it invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans and joined other Republicans in calling for Biden to resign from the presidency.

Former President Trump lambasted the move on TRUTH Social, falsely saying of the Democrats: "They stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries. These people are the real threat to democracy."

And team Trump is already attacking their new opponent, including Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, at a rally in his hometown today.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: If you want to lead this country, you should feel grateful for it. You should feel a sense of gratitude. And I never hear that gratitude come through when I listen to Kamala Harris.

(Cheering)

(Applause)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Tomorrow, Vice President Harris is expected in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the second full day of her campaign for president.

Despite Trump's fast attacks on Harris, Democrats are energized and are trying to turn the tables on the Republican narrative, pointing out that Trump is now the oldest presidential nominee in history.

Amna Nawaz:

Laura, you have been reporting for weeks on the growing calls for President Biden to step aside, but tell us how he ultimately arrived at the decision to do so just this past weekend.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Sources familiar with the decision-making, Amna, told me that, up until Saturday, President Biden was still holding firm, still wanting to stay in this race.

And President Biden was alone for much of his COVID isolation, which started last Wednesday, until his two closest longtime advisers, Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon, arrived and huddled with him on Saturday. They gave him the lay of the land essentially for his campaign, talking to him about him losing support in Congress, about donors shutting off money.

They ran through polling with him, sources told me. And it wasn't until Sunday, when President Biden decided he was ultimately going to bow out of this race. And all of his other senior advisers, including Jen O'Malley Dillon, the campaign chair, as well as Jeff Zients, who is the chief of staff to the president at the White House, were not aware of this decision until about 1:45 p.m. On Sunday, literally one minute, Amna, before the president posted on X his announcement about it.

So they were finding out in real time. I also spoke to Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a longtime ally of Biden, who said that the president really was weighing staying in this fight. He was deeply torn, didn't want to get out of this race, but ultimately felt it was the right decision for the country.

And Senator Coons said that he felt as though months of relentless focus on the debate is ultimately what hurt President Biden's polling numbers, more than the debate itself.

Amna Nawaz:

Remarkable few weeks in political history.

So what happens next? Walk us through what a potential nominating process for the Democrats could look like.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So the Democratic National Committee Rules Committee is going to be meeting Wednesday of this week to establish a framework for how the process is going to work for nominating, be it Kamala Harris or another nominee.

I spoke to members of the DNC Rules Committee, who said that one of the biggest questions that they're going to be addressing this week is whether or not they're going to still hold a virtual roll call vote ahead of the physical convention in Chicago.

That would be some time between August 1 through 5. The actual convention is in mid-August. And so they're trying to figure out if they're still going to hold it early, because they want to be on the strongest footing possible to basically fight off potential Republican litigation regarding ballot access.

And so it's highly likely that they will still move forward with that virtual roll call vote, based on the people that I was talking to on the Rules Committee. And a lot of them do expect that Kamala Harris will be their nominee.

Amna Nawaz:

And you mentioned some of the key folks already that we have seen come out to back Harris as the Democratic nominee. Is that what we're seeing across the rest of the Democratic Party too?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

We are.

She is shoring up support very quickly within this first 24 hours. And just today, Vice President Harris went to Wilmington, Delaware, to what was Biden H.Q., which is now Harris H.Q., and President Biden phoned in while she was there, saying that he hoped that his staff would give as much of their heart and soul to Vice President Harris as they did to him.

But, notably, one of the big endorsers for Vice President Harris is Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, who had expressed to some members that she wanted a more competitive process. But Harris has secured endorsements from not just Nancy Pelosi, but all of her would-be challengers, including Governors Whitmer, Shapiro, Newsom, and Pritzker, all 50 state Democratic Party chairs endorsed Harris.

Notably, though, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have not endorsed her yet. They're expected to meet with her soon, sometime this week. Hakeem Jeffries said that he thinks she's off to a great start, but when asked by reporters today did not endorse her.

Amna Nawaz:

So if she were to secure the nomination, what are you hearing about who she might pick as a potential running mate?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So those considered to be on her short list include Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, and then also Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a notable swing state there, as well as Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, another big battleground state there, and then, finally, Governor Jared Polis of Colorado.

All of those men, I'm told, are being considered potentially for her to be her vice president. And multiple sources have also told me that they expect Vice President Harris to pick her own vice presidential candidate as early as this week, Amna.

So Democrats are moving on a really fast timeline here because of the fact that they may very well hold that roll call vote for their nominee ahead of their convention in mid-August.

Amna Nawaz:

Laura Barron-Lopez with a whirlwind 24 hours in politics and reporting.

Laura, thank you.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Thank you.