Kamala Harris is heading to the battleground state of Wisconsin for her first US presidential campaign rally in 2024, as the push for the presumptive Democratic nominee for the White House gains momentum.
Harris will hold a rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday, two days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race following weeks of questions about her age and fitness to serve another term.
Although the US vice president has not been officially confirmed as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, the Associated Press news agency reported on Monday night that Harris received enough votes from delegates to secure the nomination.
“When I announced my campaign for president, I said I intended to go out and win that nomination. Tonight, I am proud to have garnered the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee,” she said in a statement.
Harris’ candidacy reinvigorated a U.S. election campaign that had failed to captivate many voters who were frustrated by the choice between Biden and former President Donald Trump, as well as the state of the economy, American foreign policy and other issues.
Since Biden’s decision on Sunday to renounce his re-election bid, Harris has won support from top Democrats, including former House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Gavin Newsom , from California.
Your campaign also said raised more than $100 million in contributions from Sunday afternoon through Monday evening, with 62% of all donations coming from first-time donors.
Tonight, I am proud to have gained the support necessary to become our party’s nominee.
Over the next few months, I’ll be traveling across the country talking to Americans about everything that’s at stake. I have every intention of uniting our party and our nation and defeating Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/Bsq3N6pMAi
-Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 23, 2024
Reporting from the White House on Tuesday morning, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said Harris’ candidacy has injected “tremendous” enthusiasm into the Democratic presidential race.
“What we saw was just record fundraising,” Halkett said, adding that tens of thousands of people also signed up to work on the vice president’s campaign.
Halkett explained that Harris’ team is focused on four key US states – Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania – as well as younger black voters across the country as they prepare to face Trump, the Republican nominee, in the election. from November.
Wisconsin, where the Republican Party held its national convention last week, is also expected to be critical in the race for the White House.
“There are independents and young people who don’t like her choices, and Harris has an opportunity to win them over,” Paul Kendrick, executive director of the Democratic group Rust Belt Rising, told Reuters news agency.
Meanwhile, Trump and his vice-presidential running mate, Senator JD Vance, have been critical of Harris, with the former US president attacking her record and dubbing her “Lyin’ Kamala” on his Truth Social platform.
Republicans have also tried to blame Harris for the high number of migrants and asylum seekers crossing the US-Mexico border during Biden’s tenure – a key election issue – and called her the administration’s “border czar.”
But experts called those criticisms false and noted that Harris is not responsible for U.S. border policies. Biden tasked her in 2021 with addressing the “root causes” of migration from Central America to the US.
In turn, Harris reacted to Trump and highlighted some of the main issues she plans to campaign on, namely access to reproductive health care, economic opportunities and the defense of democratic institutions.
In a speech to campaign staff and volunteers in Delaware on Monday, Harris said that American voters face a choice in November between “two different visions” for the country: “one focused on the future, the other focused in the past”.
The former California attorney general also said her record of prosecuting “predators,” “fraudsters” and “cheaters” would serve her well in the campaign.
“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who deceived consumers, con artists who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris said.
Trump was convicted of falsifying business records, found civilly liable for sexually abusing a magazine columnist and indicted in two criminal cases related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
He rejected any wrongdoing and said he was the victim of a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
