After weeks of intraparty division over President Joe Biden’s candidacy, delegates to the upcoming Democratic National Convention on Tuesday quickly and enthusiastically rallied in support. Vice President Kamala Harris as his party’s new presidential candidate.
Suddenly, some delegates said, they have a lot more to look forward to at their national meeting in Chicago.
“It used to feel like a convention, but now it feels like a party,” said Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, a Democratic delegate from Arizona.
Since Biden announced on Sunday that he was dropping his reelection bid and endorsing Harris, the vice president has already secured the support of enough delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to a report. Associated Press poll. In most states, Democratic officials said the entire convention delegation supports Harris.
Cázares-Kelly, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pima County registrar responsible for overseeing voter registration, said her enthusiasm for Harris is personal and practical. With just two months left until ballots are sent to overseas voters, she said Democrats need to unite behind a candidate as quickly as possible.
And “as an Indigenous woman, seeing a black woman – woman of color – advance to the highest office in the country, is very exciting,” she said.
Michigan Delegate David Coulter, the Oakland County Executive, said he fully supports Harris but was still “surprised by how quickly the party moved to support her.”
“We are the Democratic Party. There are a lot of opinions and a lot of points of view, so I thought it might take a while for people to warm up, maybe until the convention” set to begin Aug. 19, Coulter said. “But she got very masterful support.”
Harris also brought new dollars to Democrats. It has raised more than $100 million as of Sunday afternoon.
On Tuesday, Harris was campaigning in Wisconsin presidential battleground. A day earlier, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler said the state party raised $300,000 last week, including $140,000 since Biden dropped out of the race.
“The level of unity and energy is through the roof,” Wikler said. “There is a surge of focus, of enthusiasm, a blossoming of the kind of unity we will need to defeat Donald Trump.”
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Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Sharon Luyre in New Orleans; and Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan, contributed to this report.
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