CNN
—
After potential rivals, lawmakers, governors and influential labor and advocacy groups all lined up behind Vice President Kamala Harris, a wave of endorsements from state delegations Monday evening pushed her over the threshold needed to secure the Democratic nomination.
She’s been backed by well more than the 1,976 pledged delegates needed to win the nomination on the first ballot, according to CNN’s delegate estimate — a moment that arrived on the first full day of her campaign.
And with no credible challenger emerging the day after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the race and endorsed his vice president, it was already clear that the biggest remaining question about the 2024 Democratic ticket is who Harris will choose as her running mate.
Harris, who will hold a campaign event in Milwaukee on Tuesday, staked her claim to the party’s standard-bearer role with an electric speech Monday evening, as she visited the campaign’s headquarters in Delaware.
The vice president informed staffers who had been working for the Biden-led campaign that they’d remain onboard — and that campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez would remain at the helm.
And she laid out her case against Donald Trump, invoking a host of the former president’s scandals and legal troubles.
She pointed to her time as a district attorney and California attorney general, saying that she “took on perpetrators of all kinds.”
“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own game,” Harris said. “So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”
In her first day as a candidate, Harris raised $81 million, the campaign announced Monday, saying it was the largest 24-hour raise by any candidate ever. The huge haul underscored grassroots enthusiasm for a shake-up to the Democratic 2024 ticket. According to the campaign, more than 880,000 “grassroots supporters” donated, with 60% making their first contributions of the 2024 cycle.
Democratic donation-processing site ActBlue called it “the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle.” The Democratic super PAC Future Forward secured $150 million in commitments from donors in the 24 hours after Biden announced his decision, a senior aide to the group said. The commitments came from donors who were either uncommitted, unsure or previously stalled, the aide added.
Four governors of must-win Midwestern states — Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota’s Tim Walz, Wisconsin’s Tony Evers and Illinois’ JB Pritzker — have endorsed Harris. They join endorsements from Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, California’s Gavin Newsom and Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro. Many of those governors could be considered for the party’s vice presidential nomination.
Meanwhile, the cascade of endorsements for Harris’ candidacy that had begun Sunday afternoon accelerated on Capitol Hill. Harris has the support of more than 40 Democratic senators and nearly 100 House members — numbers that had grown rapidly throughout Monday morning. A significant one came from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said in a Monday afternoon statement that her “enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for President is official, personal and political.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the top-ranking Democrats in each chamber, were set to endorse Harris soon, according to multiple sources familiar with the decision. Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark and California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the second- and third-ranking House Democrats, endorsed Harris on Monday morning.
She also has the support of the political arms of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus, as well as two key labor unions, Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Teachers.
Support for the vice president came across the party’s ideological spectrum — from moderate populists, including Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of the most endangered Democratic incumbents on the ballot this fall, to progressives, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The hour-by-hour endorsements of Harris from Democratic governors, senators, Cabinet officials and state delegations unfolded by design, with the hope of reaching a majority of delegates by Wednesday, two people familiar with the process tell CNN. Harris beat that timeline on Monday.
“It’s a coordinated drumbeat,” a senior Democratic aide working on the effort said. “That sound Democrats hear is the party uniting around the vice president.”
Delegate endorsements — which are not binding — continue to come in.
01:00 - Source: CNN
Hear moment from Harris' speech that left the crowd cheering
How Harris and her allies mobilized
Joe Biden’s 1:46 p.m. ET Sunday announcement that he would not seek a second term ignited a frenetic push by Harris to consolidate the support of a party that had been in crisis in the weeks since the president’s dismal performance during his June 27 debate with Trump.
Harris knew what Biden had decided: She’d had multiple phone calls with Biden on Sunday, a person familiar with the matter said. Once the announcement came, Harris — wearing a hoodie from her alma mater, Howard University, workout sweats and sneakers — made more than 100 phone calls over 10 hours.
Alongside her family and staff, the vice president’s calls included lawmakers, governors and leaders of influential labor, advocacy and civil rights groups.
Those calls included former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Clintons, in a statement Sunday, endorsed Harris; Obama did not, deferring to the party’s process.
Harris also called her pastor, Amos Brown III, who, along with his wife, prayed over her, the source said. She ate pizza with anchovies — Harris’ go-to topping — for dinner.
In those phone calls, Harris made clear that while she was grateful for Biden’s endorsement, she planned to earn the Democratic nomination in her own right. That echoes the statement she released following Biden’s announcement to step aside.
“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she wrote.
Harris’ supporters were also mobilizing.
Harris’ chief of staff Lorraine Voles and California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis led a call Monday morning with around 350 Democratic donors, fundraisers and supporters, a longtime Democratic fundraiser and supporter of Harris for many years told CNN. The source, who was on the call, said by gathering Harris’ core supporters from her previous campaigns and newly interested donors, they hoped to get everyone to “row the right way.”
The group Win With Black Women periodically holds Zoom calls — but the one that took place Sunday evening had a different tone, with 44,000 people joining, according to its leaders.
Longtime Democratic operative Donna Brazile said that she was in the process of gathering delegates to support Harris. “I need all of you to sign your delegate pledge forms now,” Brazile said on the call. She said voter registration and fundraising will be key in the days ahead.
Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser also spoke on the call.
“I know what it’s like to be in the crosshairs of Donald Trump,” she said. “We have to defend our sister.”
Former Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett were also among the speakers.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Redux
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, speaks during a campaign event in Washington, DC, in October 2024.
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
A young Harris is seen with her mother, Shyamala, in this photo that was posted on Harris' Facebook page in March 2017. "My mother was born in India and came to the United States to study at UC Berkeley, where she eventually became an endocrinologist and breast-cancer researcher,"
Harris wrote. "She, and so many other strong women in my life, showed me the importance of community involvement and public service."
Courtesy Kamala Harris
Harris and her younger sister, Maya, pose for a Christmas photo in 1968.
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
Harris rides a carousel in this old photo
she posted to social media in 2015. Her name, Kamala, comes from the Sanskrit word for the lotus flower. Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants and grew up attending both a Baptist church and a Hindu temple.
From Kamala Harris/Twitter
Harris tweeted this photo of her as a child after referencing it during a Democratic debate in June 2019. During the debate,
she confronted Joe Biden over his opposition many years ago to the federal government mandating busing to integrate schools. "There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school,"
she tweeted. "That little girl was me."
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
Harris got her bachelor's degree from Howard University in Washington, DC.
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
Harris graduates from law school in 1989. "My first grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson (left), came to cheer me on," Harris said. "My mom was pretty proud, too."
Paul Sakuma/AP
Harris is joined by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, left, and the Rev. Cecil Williams, center, for a San Francisco march celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. in January 2004. Harris was the city's district attorney from 2004 to 2011.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Harris speaks to supporters before a "No on K" news conference in October 2008. The San Francisco ballot measure Proposition K sought to stop enforcing laws against prostitution. It was voted down on election day.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
Harris looks over seized guns following a news conference in Sacramento, California, in June 2011. Harris became California's attorney general in January 2011 and held that office until 2017. She was the first African American, the first woman and the first Asian American to become California's attorney general.
Sandy Huffaker/Corbis/Getty Images
Harris attends the Democratic Party's state convention in February 2012.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Harris watches California Gov. Jerry Brown sign copies of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights in July 2012.
Harry E. Walker/MCT/Getty Images
Harris speaks on the second night of the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
In May 2013, Harris and California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow place a wreath honoring Highway Patrol officers who were killed in the line of duty.
Jeff Chiu/AP
Harris officiates the wedding of Kris Perry, left, and Sandy Stier in June 2013. Perry and Stier were married after a federal appeals court cleared the way for California to immediately resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
From Kamala Harris/Twitter
Harris is flanked by her husband, Douglas Emhoff, and her sister, Maya. Next to Maya Harris is Maya's daughter, Meena, and Maya's husband, Tony West.
Sandy Huffaker/Corbis/Getty Images
Harris receives a gift from supporters in January 2015 after she announced plans to run for the US Senate.
Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Harris speaks during a news conference in February 2015.
Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Harris, as a new member of the Senate, participates in a re-enacted swearing-in with Vice President Joe Biden in January 2017. She is the first Indian American and the second African American woman to serve as a US senator.
Tom Williams/Getty Images
Harris talks with former US Sen. Bob Dole on Capitol Hill in January 2017.
Noam Galai/WireImage/Getty Images
Harris attends the Women's March on Washington in January 2017.
Zach Gibson/Getty Images
Harris speaks to Fatima and Yuleni Avelica, whose father was deported, before a news conference on Capitol Hill in March 2017.
Julia Rendleman/Getty Images
Harris greets a crowd at an event in Richmond, Virginia, in October 2017.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images
In November 2017, Harris was among the lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee grilling Silicon Valley giants over the role that their platforms inadvertently played in Russia's meddling in US politics.
From Kamala Harris/Facebook
Harris and her husband attend a Golden State Warriors basketball game in May 2018.
Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images
Harris attends a rally with, from left, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom, and Newsom's wife, Jennifer, in May 2018. Newsom won the election in November.
Melina Mara/Getty Images
Harris speaks with US Sen. Cory Booker during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in September 2018.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Harris presses Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/AP
Harris arrives with staff for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2018.
Faye Sadou/MediaPunch/AP
Harris reads from her children's book "Superheroes Are Everywhere" during a book signing in Los Angeles in January 2019. She also released a memoir, "The Truths We Hold: An American Journey."
Barbara Davidson/Getty Images
A person holds a Harris poster during the Women's March in Los Angeles in January 2019.
Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters
Harris holds her first presidential campaign rally in January 2019. She had announced her presidential bid a week earlier on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Her campaign signs carried the theme "Kamala Harris for the people" — the words that she spoke each time she rose in the courtroom as a prosecutor.
Edward M. Pioroda/CNN
Harris speaks during her CNN town-hall event, which was moderated by Jake Tapper in Iowa in January 2019.
Bebeto Matthews/Pool/Getty Images
Media members photograph Harris and the Rev. Al Sharpton as they have lunch at Sylvia's Restaurant in New York in February 2019.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Harris confronts former Vice President Joe Biden, left, during the first Democratic debates in June 2019. Harris
went after Biden over his early career opposition to federally mandated busing.
Maddie McGarvey/The New York Times/Redux
Harris rides her campaign bus in Iowa in August 2019.
Adam Schultz/Biden for President
Harris and Biden greet each other at a Detroit high school as they attend a "Get Out the Vote" event in March 2020. Harris had dropped out of the presidential race a few months earlier, telling her supporters that the campaign didn't have the financial resources to continue.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Harris joins fellow Democrats from the House and Senate as they kneel in silence to honor George Floyd at the US Capitol in June 2020.
Adam Schultz/Biden for President
Biden calls Harris from his Delaware home to inform her that she was his choice for vice president.
Adam Schultz/Biden for President
Harris and Biden sign paperwork to officially get on the ballot in all 50 states.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Harris delivers a speech as she formally accepts the nomination at the
Democratic National Convention. "Let's fight with conviction," Harris said in her speech. "Let's fight with hope. Let's fight with confidence in ourselves and a commitment to each other. To the America we know is possible. The America we love."
Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Biden and Harris appear before supporters at the end of the Democratic National Convention.
Morry Gash/Pool/Getty Images
From Doug Emhoff/Twitter
Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, tweeted this photo of him and Harris that was taken in November 2020, just after she and Biden were projected to win the election. "So proud of you," Emhoff wrote.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Harris arrives on stage to give a victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Redux
Biden and Harris greet each other on the stage where they delivered their victory speeches.
Maddie McGarvey for CNN
Harris walks with her family to the White House on the final stretch of an abbreviated inaugural parade.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Leah Millis/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Harris is given a tour near the demarcation line as she
visited the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea in September 2022. It was the last stop on her four-day trip to Asia, and it came a day after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the waters off its east coast.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
addresses Congress at the US Capitol in December 2022 as Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hold up a Ukrainian national flag signed by troops from the besieged area of Bakhmut.
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Biden and Harris pose with the Golden State Warriors as the NBA champions
visited the White House in January 2023. Harris said she had been a Warriors fan her "entire life."
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Biden and Harris
meet with congressional leaders in the White House Oval Office in May 2023 to talk about a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit and avoid a historic default. Joining Biden and Harris, from left, are Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images
US Sen. Laphonza Butler is sworn in by Harris at the US Capitol in October 2023. Harris and Butler are
two of only three Black women to have served as a US senator.
Matt Kelley/AP
Harris embraces Biden after a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, in March 2024.
The rare joint appearance highlighted the emphasis that the duo planned to place on health care for the upcoming election.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Pool/AP
Kevin Mohatt/Reuters
Harris speaks just outside of Milwaukee in
her first campaign rally, two days after Biden dropped out of the presidential race. She told supporters that she would spend the coming weeks "continuing to unite our party" ahead of August's Democratic National Convention and this fall's showdown with Donald Trump.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Todd Heisler/The New York Times/Redux
Amara Ajagu watches Harris formally accept her party's presidential nomination at the
Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 2024.
Ajagu is one of Harris' young grandnieces. Harris is the first Black woman and first Asian American to lead a major-party ticket. If elected, she would be the first woman and Indian American president.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Harris shakes hands with former President Donald Trump at the start of
their presidential debate in September 2024. Harris walked over to Trump and extended her hand. He accepted the handshake. It was the first time the two had met.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Harris hugs a child after speaking at a campaign event in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, in October 2024.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Harris is surprised by campaign staff with birthday decorations before Air Force Two departed from Atlanta on October 20. Harris had just turned 60.
Rebecca Wright/CNN
Harris participates in a
CNN town hall in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in October 2024. She faced questions from undecided and persuadable voters and made a final pitch to them.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Redux
Harris and former President Barack Obama walk and talk backstage before speaking at a campaign rally in Clarkston, Georgia, in October 2024.
Jim Bourg/Redux
Harris speaks from the Ellipse in Washington, DC, in October 2024. The Harris-Walz campaign billed the speech as her
"closing argument" one week before the election.
Chary Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images
Harris makes
a surprise appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in November 2024. “You got this,” Harris told her “SNL” alter ego, played by Maya Rudolph.
Austin Steele/CNN
Harris delivers
her concession speech after losing the election to Trump. “The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for," she told supporters at Howard University. "But hear me when I say: The light of America’s promise will always burn bright."
No serious challenger has emerged to take on Harris for the nomination ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which starts August 19 in Chicago.
Any challenge might need to materialize even faster: The Democratic National Committee is moving forward with a process that will determine the party’s presidential nominee by August 7, party officials said Monday night.
Manchin, who had left the party earlier this year and is not seeking reelection, said Monday he will not rejoin the party and seek its nomination.
CNN has previously reported the West Virginia senator was considering re-registering as a Democrat to throw his hat in the ring. But in an interview with CBS News on Monday, Manchin said he will not be a candidate.
“I could not believe that there was not going to be a primary process or a mini process. Other countries do it,” Manchin said, adding that he believes Harris is too liberal but could be forced to the middle if she faces a challenge.
New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams announced his support for Harris in an interview with MSNBC on Monday, reversing course just hours after he told CNN, “there’s a process and we’re going to follow that process,” to determine the party’s nominee.
“We need real, clear, leadership, and she understands it,” Adams told MSNBC. “She was in the position of looking over the border issue, so she understands some of the things that we need to do.”
And he offered a stirring endorsement of Harris’ fitness to lead the ticket, urging advisers to “let her be her.”
Democratic lawyers are beginning their work conducting a deep, yet truncated, vetting process for potential vice presidential hopefuls, two people familiar with the matter told CNN, with siloed teams being established for the leading prospective candidates.
Cooper, Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly are among the Democrats who have been asked to submit information about their finances, family histories and other personal details, two people familiar with the process said. They are part of a group that includes about 10 names, nearly all of whom are elected officials.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm Covington & Burling will handle vetting for Harris’ running mate, a source familiar with the plans said.
The audition process is also playing out in public, with Cooper and Beshear appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday — with the intent that Harris was watching. An aide said she caught at least part of the conversations.
Beshear, the two-term Kentucky governor, announced his support for Harris — and said he is open to joining Harris as her potential running mate, noting it’s “flattering to be a part” of the conversation about the vice-presidential nomination.
He also offered a window into how he’d play the traditional attack-dog role of a running mate. At multiple points in the interview, Beshear attacked Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, who has family ties to Beshear’s home state of Kentucky.
“Let me just tell you that JD Vance ain’t from here,” Beshear said, referring to his home state, taking issue with how Vance described Appalachia in his best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Beshear also attacked Vance for past comments expressing support for strict restrictions to abortion access, while touting Harris’ record of supporting protections for reproductive health care.
“JD Vance calls pregnancy arising from rape ‘inconvenient,’” Beshear said. “No, it’s just plain wrong. He suggests that women should stay in abusive relationships. Now listen, a domestic abuser isn’t a man, he’s a monster, and no one should support anyone having to stay in those relationships.”
Cooper, the North Carolina governor who endorsed Harris on Sunday, also appeared on MSNBC on Monday, but deflected questions about whether he would be open to becoming her running mate.
“I think it’s really important that we do keep the focus on her this week. The vice-presidential conversation needs to occur later,” Cooper said. “I want to make sure that Kamala Harris wins. I’m going to work for her all over this country and do what I can to make sure we stop Donald Trump.”
Whitmer, the Michigan governor, told a local reporter she’s “not planning to go anywhere” when asked Monday if she would accept the vice presidential role if offered.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, meanwhile, told CNN’s Dana Bash that “obviously, if somebody asks, I’d take a serious look at it,” but that “my phone hasn’t rung yet.”
“If they do the polling and it turns out that they need a 49-year-old, balding, gay Jew from Boulder, Colorado, they got my number,” Polis quipped.
This story and headline have been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, Jamie Gangel, Ebony Davis, Aaron Pellish, MJ Lee, DJ Judd, Eva McKend, Arlette Saenz and Alison Main contributed to this report.