Harris to make presidential campaign debut in swing state of Wisconsin

Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin for the first time as a presidential candidate on Tuesday after securing enough Democratic delegate support to clear a path to the nomination.

Harris has emerged as the Democratic candidate after President Joe Biden, 81, abandoned his re-election campaign on Sunday, after weeks of calls from within his own party to end his bid, questioning his ability to beat former President Donald Trump or to serve for another four-year term.

Less than 36 hours after Biden endorsed Harris, she secured the nomination on Monday night by winning the pledged support of a majority of the party’s delegates who will determine the nomination, the campaign said.

“I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee,” Harris said in a statement. “I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.”

An unofficial survey of delegates by the Associated Press showed Harris with more than 2,500 delegates, well over the 1,976 needed to win a vote in the coming weeks. Delegates could still, technically, change their minds but nobody else received any votes in the AP survey; 54 delegates said they were undecided.

Harris’s rise dramatically reshapes an election in which many voters were unhappy with their options. Weighed by concerns including his age and continued high prices crimping Americans’ household finances, Biden had been losing ground against Trump in opinion polls, particularly in the competitive states that are likely to decide the election, including Wisconsin and the sun-belt states of Arizona and Nevada.

The Wisconsin trip offers another opportunity for Harris, the first Black woman and Asian-American to serve as vice president, to reset the Democrats’ campaign. She is scheduled to speak at a political event in Milwaukee at 1 p.m. CDT (1800 GMT).

Harris, 59, offered a sense of how she plans to attack Trump 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.

While a wave of senior Democrats have lined up behind Harris, the racial justice group Black Lives Matter on Tuesday challenged the party’s swift move.

It called for a national virtual snap primary ahead of the Aug. 19-22 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where the party will formally nominate its candidate.

“We call for the Rules Committee to create a process that allows for public participation in the nomination process, not just a nomination by party delegates,” Black Lives Matter said in a statement provided to Reuters. “This moment calls for decisive action to protect the integrity of our democracy and the voices of Black voters.”

RUST BELT PUSH

Wisconsin is among a trio of Rust-Belt states that include Michigan and Pennsylvania that are critical for Democrats’ chances of defeating Trump.

“There are independents and young people who did not like their choices, and Harris has a chance to win them,” said Paul Kendrick, executive director of the Democratic group Rust Belt Rising.

Harris has also been raking in campaign contributions. Her campaign said Monday she had raised $100 million since Biden stepped aside on Sunday, topping the $95 million that the Biden campaign had in the bank at the end of June.

Actor George Clooney, a major Hollywood fundraiser for Democrats who caused a stir two weeks ago when he called on Biden to drop out, on Tuesday endorsed Harris, CNN reported him as saying.

Trump and his allies have tried to keep Harris tethered to some of Biden’s more unpopular policies, including his administration’s handling of the surge of migrants at the southern border.

“Kamala Harris’ dismal record is one of complete failure and utter incompetence. Her policies are Biden’s policies, and vice versa,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said.

A half-dozen leading Democrats in Wisconsin said in interviews that Harris offers the party the opportunity to animate voters who were unenthused about Biden and Trump.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said Harris could also help bring back crucial Black voters.

“Many of them didn’t come along because they were distracted by his age, distracted by his appearance,” Crowley said.

Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison, in an interview on NBC’s “Today” program said the party had to move quickly to get the ticket on ballots in all 50 states, and that the vice presidential pick needed to be made by Aug. 7.

“This process is going to be fair, transparent, open but it’s going to be fast,” Harrison said.

The short list of people being discussed included Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, according to people familiar with internal policy discussions.