US Vice President Kamala Harris secured the Democratic party’s presidential nomination Friday. She was the sole candidate in a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates and will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month.
“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States,” Harris, 59, said after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon vote.
Following President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek reelection, Harris gained full control of the party. No other Democrats challenged her, making her the first Black and South Asian woman to secure a major party’s nomination.
Harris is set to campaign across seven crucial battleground states with her running mate, who will be revealed soon. The Democratic Party opted for a virtual nomination process due to Ohio’s August 7 deadline for submitting certified candidates’ names for the November election.
The official beginning of the 2024 convention starts with the virtual roll call, but festivities will peak when thousands of party faithful gather in Chicago on August 19. Harris aims to rebuild the coalition that carried Biden to victory in 2020 and extend her campaign to racially diverse states such as Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada.
Source: AFP
