It took a while, but Vice President Kamala Harris finally addressed the state of play after President Joe Biden ended his 2024 campaign on Sunday and endorsed Harris to take his spot at the top of the Democrat ticket this November.
"I am honored to have the President's endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination," Harris said. Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead."
"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," Harris pledged. "We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win."
NEW: Statement from Kamala.
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) July 21, 2024
Key line: “My intention is to earn and win this nomination.”
Expect Dems to frame the convention this way. Kamala “earning” the nomination instead of getting it by default pic.twitter.com/MrJRLtcH6K
In her written statement distributed to the media, Harris thanked Biden "for his extraordinary leadership as President" and "his decades of service to our country," praising his "remarkable legacy of accomplishment" that is "unmatched in modern American history." Harris also claimed that Biden — in the last three and a half years — has surpassed the "legacy of many Presidents who have served two terms in office."
Harris proceeded to effusively praise Biden — the man she accused of being a racist in a 2020 primary debate — as a great father, husband, and president who is honest and filled with integrity. She, parroting the party line, called Biden's acquiescence to the coup attempt against his candidacy a "selfless and patriotic act" that puts "the American people and our country above everything else."
Notably, Harris did not mention any of her own supposed achievements or qualifications in her statement that she intends to use in her mini-campaign to get Democrats to back her as Biden's successor.
While Harris claims that she will unite Democrats around her and win the nomination for president, that's not the reality unfolding over the hours since Biden admitted he couldn't mount another general election campaign.
For example, former President Barack Obama did not — in a statement of his own praising Biden for stepping aside after working behind the scenes to push Biden out of the way — endorse Harris' bid to become the party's presidential nominee. "We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead," Obama said. "But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."
The fundamentally undemocratic coup of sorts to boot Biden — disenfranchising more than 14 million Democrat primary voters — is extra ironic for Harris. Her previous run for the White House in the 2020 primary saw her campaign fall apart and she dropped out before the Iowa caucuses. That is, she did not get any primary votes or DNC delegates in her previous campaign for president, and as the VP did not get any votes or delegates for 2024, either. If she is installed atop the ticket for November, she will be the Democrats' nominee without receiving a single vote from Democrat presidential primary voters.
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