BID FOR HISTORY

Kamala Harris faces an unprecedented task after Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the US election race. The vice president now has a party majority for the Democratic nomination, but she needs to ramp up her campaign to win over voters before November

- Lauren Gambino

WHEN JOE BIDEN ADDRESSED THE NAACP CONVENTION in Las Vegas last week, one of his biggest applause lines – a line that set off chants of “Four more years!” – was when he praised Kamala Harris as “not only a great vice-president” but someone who “could be president of the United States”.

Now she has that chance. Last Sunday, when the president made the extraordinary decision to end his re-election campaign, he made a momentous choice: to offer his “full support and endorsement” of Harris to be the Democratic nominee and take on Donald Trump in November.

“It’s time to come together and beat Trump,” the 81-year-old president said. “Let’s do this.”

Harris, who only learned of Biden’s decision that morning, appeared ready to take on the baton almost immediately. “I am honoured to have the president’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said . “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic party – and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”

She offered a sense of how she plans to attack Trump in a speech to campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday, referring to her past of pursuing “predators” and “fraudsters” as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

“So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said of her rival, a convicted felon who was found liable for sexual assault in civil court. Other courts have found fraud was committed in his business, charitable foundation and private university.

She also cast herself as a defender of economic opportunity and abortion access. “Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedoms,” she said. “The baton is in our hands.”

Biden spoke by phone to the staff first, saying he would be out on the campaign trail for Harris and adding: “I’ll be doing whatever Kamala Harris wants me or needs me to do.”