Vice President Harris is racing to secure support for her White House bid, just hours after President Biden announced he would no longer seek re-election.
Harris spoke Sunday with the chairs of three key coalitions on Capitol Hill: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Rep. Ann. McLane Kuster (DN.H.) of the New Democratic Coalition. All three supported Harris for the nomination.
She also spoke with Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) – “She’s ready to win Wisconsin!!!” he said on social platform — and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said he heard from his team.
“Her team is fully activated and the phones are ringing, the emails are blowing up, this thing is going on,” Huffman told The Hill in a brief interview Sunday. “It took off like a rocket.”
Asked what the sentiment of their conversation was, Huffman responded, “Let’s roll.”
The full-court presser at the Capitol comes as Harris seeks to supercharge her nascent presidential campaign after Biden announced he would no longer seek the party’s nomination.
Biden was facing increasing pressure from Democrats to reconsider his decision to run amid concerns following his disastrous debate performance last month. The president initially was defiant, consistently saying he would not step aside, but reversed his position on Sunday, quickly endorsing Harris for the job.
“My first decision as the party’s 2020 candidate was to choose Kamala Harris as my vice president. And it was the best decision I made,” Biden said on X. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year.”
Harris accepted the endorsement, writing in a statement, “I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and earn this nomination.”
Harris is expected to maintain an aggressive travel schedule, as she has done in recent months, according to a source familiar with the matter. Major Democratic PACs, including AAPI Victory Fund, Collective PAC and Latino Victory Fund, endorsed her on Sunday, and Biden’s campaign infrastructure is pivoting to support Harris.
Harris’ rush to boost support comes less than a month before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Several Democratic lawmakers have endorsed Harris for the nomination, but a few high-profile names are holding court. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), and former President Obama praised Biden, but they stopped short of endorsing Harris, raising some eyebrows.
The path forward remains largely unclear. Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said Sunday: “In the coming days, the Party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.”
“This process will be governed by the rules and procedures established by the Party,” he added. “Our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility to quickly deliver a candidate to the American people.”
Jayapal said Sunday that she told Harris on the call that she is “1000% willing to be our president!”
“She has the intelligence, the experience, the accomplishments and the agenda to lead us to victory in November. Let’s go!” she added in X.
Barragán echoed this sentiment, writing in X: “I just spoke to the vice president to reiterate that I am all in.”
“Please join me and support Vice President Kamala Harris with a contribution today!” she added.
Brett Samuels contributed.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
