Brown Girl In The Ring

With her multicultural heritage, prosecutorial background and passionate defence of women’s rights, Kamala Harris is well positioned to take the fight to Donald Trump

- AJISH P. JOY

President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid at 1:46pm on July 21, posting a letter on social media from his vacation home in Delaware. At 2:13pm, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. In those 27 minutes, Harris spoke to nearly a dozen key Democrats, persuading them to back her, and all of them did. At 4:48pm, she filed the first application with the Federal Election Commission about the change atop the Democratic ticket, marking the formal transition of the campaign.

Harris was ready. She was at her Naval Observatory residence in Washington, DC, when Biden told her about his decision to quit. She immediately summoned her team, which had an inkling that something momentous was happening. By the time they called it a day, Harris had contacted more than 100 Democratic stalwarts, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Congressional leaders and, most importantly, her potential rivals for nomination—Governors Gretchen Whitmer, J.B. Pritzker and Josh Shapiro. Her team simultaneously worked the phones to convince convention delegates, numbering around 4,000, who have the mandate to choose the nominee.

In less than two days, Harris won over 3,100 delegates, secured endorsements from prominent Democrats, cleared the field of every serious contender and raised nearly $125 million (approximately ₹1,050 crore). By quickly sealing the nomination, she killed the demand for an open convention, which was said to be preferred by at least a few in the party, including Obama. (Michelle and Barack Obama endorsed her three days later.) Harris has all but clinched the Democratic nomination; technically, she has to wait till the Democratic Party completes its formal roll call of delegates to finalise its candidate, which could happen latest by August 7.