"It will be a challenge"

Kamalu Harris was supported by the leading leaders of the US Democratic Party, but the outcome of the campaign is still unpredictable. What are her chances to become a candidate?

Joe Biden leaves the presidential race, giving way to a chance to compete for this post by US Vice President Kamale Harris. On the day of Bayden departure, the Democrats received more than $ 50 million, which became a record for their 2024 campaign. Harris itself was already supported by many leading congressmen and governors - but not all. The dumplings can choose another candidate at the congress in August, so the outcome of the campaign remains unpredictable.

Novyevropa, together with a political scientist-American, tells which of the leading Democrats supported Harris’s candidacy when she can officially become a candidate and what her chances of winning were.

"A vision of the future that you can believe in." Who supported Harris?

Influential democrats supported Vice President Kamal Harris after Joe Bayden’s exit from the presidential race. According to The New York Times, such a change in power will be able to put an end to the “month of destructive chaos” and turn the struggle, which was more likely inclined in favor of the Republicans.

“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party - and unite our nation - to defeat Donald Trump. <...> We have 107 days before the day of the election. Together we will fight. And together we will win, ”she said.

The Washington Post listed 10 names that could become a replacement of Biden, and many of them now say that Harris is the best candidate in the struggle for the presidency. This greatly facilitates her path to nomination from the party.

“Kamala Harris is now the same person who can accept the baton, defeat Donald Trump and change Joe Biden as president,” said US Minister Pit Buttijich . According to Governor of California, Gavin Newsom , no one except Harris will be able to “better deal against Donald Trump’s dark plans” and direct the country for the better. The Governor of Pennsylvania agreed with them , Josh Shapiro , who promised to do everything possible so that Harris won this presidential race.

Governor Colorado Jared Polis said that Vice President "has a vision of hope and the future in which we can all believe."

Harris also received support for Senator Mark Kelly and Governor of North Carolina Roy Cooper . They, according to Axios, are now considered as candidates for US Vice Presidents.

Kelly expressed the opinion that Harris is “the person who can defeat Donald Trump and our country to the future,” and Cooper noted that she has everything to “think carefully and honestly” to head the United States.

Member of the House of Representatives of James Klaibern , a democrat from South California and the key ally of Biden, who participated in his 2020 campaign, also supported Harris on Sunday evening: “I share his [Biden] common sense, manifested when choosing the Vice President Harris for the leadership of the country with him, and I am proud of the fact that he was next to his example and support her with an example The candidate for the post of successor as a candidate from the Democratic Party for the presidency in 2024. "

Harris received the support of Senator Tim Kane (Virginia), who was a candidate for the post of vice president from the Democratic Party in 2016, as well as Senators Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) and Amy Klobushar (Minnesota). In addition, a number of democrats from the House of Representatives announced Harris as the best candidacy in this race: this is Maxwell Alehandro Frost (Florida), Jerry Nadler (New York), Mark Ran (Wisconsin), Alexandria Okasio-Cortes (New York), Ilkhan Omar (Minnesota), Andy Kim (New Jersey), Ted Lew (California) and Abigail Spanberger (Virginia).

According to Politico, dozens of current and former delegates of the National Congress of the Democratic Party signed a letter in support of Kamaly Harris. In their opinion, she demonstrated "determination and resistance in the face of racist and sexist attacks from the Republicans." She will be able to help candidates from the Democratic Party get more places in the elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate, which will allow them to adopt “laws that will really benefit the American people,” the letter says.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Hillary Clinton published a joint statement in support of Harris, emphasizing that they would "do their best to support her."

Karris was also the key sponsors of the Democratic Party, such as investor Red Hoffman and billionaire Rick Caruso .

And someone opposed?

None of the other leading Democrats has yet announced plans to challenge Harris. At the same time, some refrained from her support. In particular, the former US President Barack Obamacalled for a more competitive process of nomination of candidates. “In the coming days, we have to swim through unknown waters. But I have exceptional confidence that our party leaders will be able to create a process as a result of which an outstanding candidate will appear, ”he wrote.

Governor Michigan Gretchen Whitmer expressed Bidena’s support, but did not mention Harris in her statement. She emphasized that her task in these elections would remain the same: “To do everything possible to choose the democrats and stop Donald Trump.” Neither the leader of the majority in the Senate Chuck Shumer , nor the leader of the parliamentary minority Hakim Jeffris , nor the former speaker of Nancy Pelosi , said nothing about Harris.

The decision to nominate a new candidate should be adopted by the National Convention of the Democratic Party. Party members plan to hold a virtual vote to choose a candidate before delegates gather in Chicago for a nationwide congress on August 19.

And what about the money collected?

Harris can access the accounts of the candidate from the Democratic, at which, as of the end of June, there were about $ 96 million, said the founder and president of the Campaign Legal Center, Trevor Potter. He stated that Biden and Harris have a general pre-election committee, so the vice president and her partner may continue to use the campaign funds if she is running for the Democratic Party as a presidential candidate.

However, there are no guarantees that no one will have any questions about the money collected by the Democrats after Biden's exit from the race, CNN notes .

“It will be a challenge. The headquarters cannot store money for elections in which the candidate is not participating, ”said Craig Engle lawyer on election campaigns. In the coming weeks, Biden’s election campaign will have to contact the Federal Election Commission for recommendations, he added. To resolve this issue, a trial will be needed, according to Derek Müller, a professor of suffrage at the University of Notre-Dam.

What now? The prospects of Harris and the Democratic Party

Many democrats felt a sense of enthusiasm and relief, Nyt writes : now they see the opportunity to recover from almost a month of internal battles and races, which seemed to lead to catastrophic defeats. However, despite the fact that the Democratic Party raised almost $ 60 million on Sunday, on the day Biden left the race, it remains unclear how the country will respond to its campaign.

Political consultant Dmitry Melhorn called Harris the “personification of the American dream”: “The daughter of immigrants who met at the University of California,” he said.

Harris-ex-prosecutor San Francisco, former General Prosecutor of California is the first woman to take this position. She is also the first woman, the first dark-skinned politician and the first politician of Asian origin in the post of vice president of the country in the history of the United States. In this position, as Politico notes , she had much fewer opportunities to state her own ideas about how she would actually rule the country or how her politics would relate to Biden's policy.

As the political scientist-Americanist noted in a conversation with the “New Evrope” ( he wished to remain anonymous for security reasons. - Approx. Ed. ), Harris has no image of an independent politician, and therefore, in many respects, she shows approximately the same results as Bayden.

According to recent surveys , Harris is lagging behind Trump with a small margin by two percentage points (46% versus 48%) in the leading hesitating states. In general, Harris showed itself only a little better than Biden, among black voters, youth and women.

“The Americans have not yet perceived it as a separate independent policy. The main task of Harris for the upcoming three months is to build its own separate image, and create contrast not only in relation to Trump and Republicans, but to Biden. That is, it is necessary to determine what she would do differently, what priorities she has in politics. It depends on how the voters will perceive it. So far we do not know what her election campaign will look like, ”said the-American political scientist. However, in his opinion, the Harris foreign policy program will be in many ways similar to Biden's policy.

As Nyt notes, 59-year-old Harris will be able to create difficulties for the 78-year-old Trump, as he will be forced to fight against a candidate who, ten years younger than him, is more energetic and also actively advocates the main right supported by the Democrats, the right to abortion.

Harris proposed to send 10 trillion dollars to combat climate change and re -equip the US economy to switch to clean sources instead of fossil fuel. Another key point of the Harris program is the write -off of student debts, but Baiden publicly expressed doubts about this plan.

Despite support from prominent democrats, the party itself will still have the opportunity to choose another candidate if its members unite and vote for him. And this makes the outcome of the campaign unpredictable.

“It is impossible to say with one hundred percent probability that Harris will be a candidate from the Democratic Party. American policy is quite unpredictable. Nevertheless, the chances of this are quite high. Also, taking into account the values ​​of the Democratic Party, it would be quite strange to deprive this nomination with this nomination, ”the political scientist-Americanist emphasized in a conversation with the New Evrope.

Now Harris must enlist the voices of most of the almost 4,000 delegates at the National Congress of the Democratic Party.

According to Washington Post, the vice president spent most of the Sunday, calling the congressmen-democrats to enlist their support. She expressed a desire to continue the dialogue with US citizens: “The last year I traveled around the country, talking with the Americans about these significant elections. And this is what I will continue to do in the coming days and weeks, ”she said.