With Biden’s backing, Kamala Harris leads the pack in bid to replace him on the ticket

Vice President Kamala Harris received President Joe Biden’s backing to take his place as the Democratic presidential nominee Sunday, an endorsement he made after announcing he is abandoning his re-election bid.

Biden’s decision to bow out breaks open the nominating process — meaning Harris or any other Democrat could seek the party’s nomination. The delegates who were elected during the primary to support Biden will now be tasked with voting on who will be the party’s nominee. The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin August 19 in Chicago and with Biden’s backing, Harris became the instant favorite.

Harris, the first female vice president, would become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to become a major party nominee.

Biden’s historic and unprecedented decision to withdraw comes amid concerns over his age and mental sharpness sparked by his disastrous debate performance in June against former President Donald Trump.

At 59, Harris is 22 years younger than the 81-year-old Biden.

The daughter of immigrant parents — an Indian mother and a Jamaican father — the Oakland, California, native first made a name for herself as a prosecutor in the San Francisco district attorney’s office and was elected as the DA in 2003. She first rose to national prominence after becoming California attorney general in 2010. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in California in 2016, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian woman to serve in the chamber.

Tory Gavito, president of Way to Win, a national strategy hub for donors aligned with Democratic causes that in recent weeks invested money studying how to bolster Harris, said she believes she is the right person to be on the top of the ticket now that Biden has stepped aside.

“We are ready to lock in and support Vice President Harris in her new role,” Gavito said. “She’s had a stellar track record in all of her political positions. She has refined her case for voting rights, her case for reproductive freedoms, her ability to govern on the economy and she’s ready.”

Harris jumped into the 2020 presidential primary in Jan. 2019 during a rally in Oakland that drew about 20,000 people, but her fundraising and poll numbers began lagging that summer after the Democratic debates. She withdrew from the race in December, before the primaries started.

Harris, who had pointed exchanges with Biden during the debates, was named his running mate in Aug. 2020. At times, she struggled to find footing during the first years of her vice presidency but gained prominence as the 2024 campaign ramped up. In particular, she spearheaded outreach to Black and Asian American voters, the former being a core demographic for Biden.

As some Democrats began to lose confidence in the president’s ability to remain on the ticket, many began to voice support for her taking his place. Trump also began attacking Harris more forcefully in his campaign speeches.

Some Democrats — publicly and privately — have questioned whether Harris is the best person to become the party’s nominee. But those doubts were largely quieted after several Black lawmakers and Democratic strategists said passing over Harris should be a non-starter. They argued that she was the most qualified to do the job having served alongside Biden and that Democrats, a party whose most loyal voters are Black women, could not skip over her and anger their base.

Biden, who at the time was still insisting he would remain in the race, also made clear during a July 11th press conference that he believed Harris was qualified to be president. “From the very beginning, I made no bones about that,” Biden said. “She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her.”

Trump also began recently attacking Harris more forcefully in his campaign speeches. And, Trump’s campaign along with his running mate JD Vance, have sought to paint Harris as an extremist.

Still, Gavito said Way to Win’s research and polling in battleground states from the past few weeks has shown Harris had a “significant boost” from “younger voter segments that Biden has struggled with” and performed well among voters of color and women. 

“Harris has done a lot to bring in really fundamental parts of our base, and I’m excited to see voters that have been in a column of not interested in either party get excited,” Gavito said.

The selection of Harris as the nominee ends the possibility of an ugly floor fight at the convention, and has major financial benefits for the vice president and the party as well. Campaign finance law experts have told NBC News that it is likely that Biden’s campaign war chest could be transferred to Harris because she was his running mate. Any other candidate would likely have to raise new money for his or her campaign.