Kamala Harris visited Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday, July 22, for her first campaign event since Joe Biden withdrew from the race for the White House. Less than 24 hours after this shock announcement, the Vice President of the United States is already garnering significant support.
Kamala Harris launched into the campaign on Monday with a head-on attack Donald Trumpwhom she promises to beat in the November election. Comparing the 78-year-old Republican candidate to a ” predator ” and one ” crook “, the current American vice-president launched, in what was her first campaign speech: ” We will win “.
Propelled into the race for the White House with Joe Biden’s withdrawal On Sunday, Kamala Harris acknowledged on Monday that the campaign had had the effect of ” Russian mountains “. ” I know that (…) we are all filled with so many mixed feelings about this. I love Joe Biden ” she said from her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, east. She also promised to put abortion rights at the heart of her electoral strategy. We will fight for the right to dispose of one’s body, knowing full well that if Trump has the opportunity, he will enact a ban on abortion in every state. ” she said again.
Before his speech, it was a Joe Biden with a voice still hoarse from Covid-19 who spoke, on the phone from his vacation home – the same one from which he announced Sunday that he was throwing in the towel. According to his doctor Monday, he has almost no more symptoms. It is the best “, the president hammered home, still affirming that his decision to withdraw was the ” Good “His vice-president had earlier praised his record, ” without equivalent in modern history “.
In one term, he has surpassed most presidents who have served two terms. I have been able to witness every day the qualities of our president. His honesty, his integrity, his devotion to faith and his family, his big heart and his love, his deep love for our country.
Kamala Harris pays tribute to President Joe Biden
Heavyweight supports
This first campaign speech comes after the vice president garnered significant support in less than 24 hours before the Democratic Party convention in August, where Kamala Harris intends to obtain the nomination for the November election. This is the case of the governors of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, of California, Gavin Newsom, and of Kentucky, Andy Beshear. But also of Wes Moore (Maryland), or JB Pritzker (Illinois).
They join Hillary and Bill Clinton, who drew faster than everyone else on Sunday evening in the wake of Joe Biden’s call, and more left-wing figures, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, elected representative from New York. Another sign of a relative alignment of the planets, independent senator Joe Manchin, a former Democrat known for his conservative positions, also announced today that he would not be a candidate for the supreme office.
As for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had not taken the step when paying tribute to President Biden, she wasted no time either, falling in behind the designated successor the next day. My enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for president is official, personal and political. ” she wrote on Monday. ” Kamala Harris is a very talented politician, and I have every confidence in her ability to lead us to victory. »
However, everything remains to be done for this woman born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, since she will also have to convince voters, if the Democratic Party stage is crossed. Eyes are particularly turned towards minorities, where nothing is won for her, which illustrates well the challenge she now faces, as explained on RFI by Paul Schor, lecturer at the University of Paris Cité, specialist in the history of the United States.
On the one hand, there are black Americans, whose loyalty to the Democratic Party is very strong, meaning they often vote between 90% and 95% for the Democratic candidate, whoever he may be. So there, there are not a lot of votes to win for her. Where Kamala Harris probably has a card to play is more on the Asian electorate…
Paul Schor, lecturer at the University of Paris Cité, specialist in the history of the United States
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A campaign machine stamped Harris
The 3,936 delegates of the Democratic Party are due to meet in Chicago from August 19 to 22 to ratify the choice of their presidential candidate for the November 5 election. A large majority of them had given their support to Mr. Biden, and are now left to their own devices or almost. Kamala Harris needs to obtain the support of precisely 1,969 of them to officially become the candidate of her political party with a view to ” beat donald trump “.
Joe Biden’s entire campaign apparatus is now stamped Kamala Harris. At the call of the incumbent president, donations broke their 2024 record in the hours following the big announcement on Sunday evening. The Harris team has also started contacting dozens of delegates to arrive at the Democratic convention in the best conditions. Optimism is in order: many hope that by this week, Ms. Harris will be propelled.
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According to Reuters, citing a source familiar with the discussions, Kamala Harris also spoke with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is expected to be a candidate, with the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, and finally with Steven Horsford, president of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Some Democrats believe the convention should be open to other candidates, and Barack Obama He himself has not yet expressed any preference. But Ms. Harris, a great defender of abortion rights, can already count on the support of abortion rights groups, which are campaigning for her candidacy within the party and are contacting delegates themselves. The Democratic committees of the American states are also supporting her.
Kamala Harris is very identified with the defense of women’s rights, especially the right to abortion. It’s a cause with which she is identified. She is not that well-known after all. There are not so many issues with which she is associated in the minds of Americans.
Paul Schor, lecturer at the University of Paris Cité, specialist in the history of the United States
Kamala Harris’ supporters have even found a symbol of their rallying. Hawaiian Senator Brian Schatz, for example, attached to his message of support for Ms. Harris on the social network X a photo of a man climbing a coconut tree, a tree whose fruit has been proliferating on the platform since Sunday. Last year at the White House, the vice president had referred to it during a speech on equal opportunities in education that had left its mark.
” My mother was sometimes a little strict with us, and told us : “I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. Do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?“ ” she confided with a burst of laughter. An offbeat statement, not necessarily understood at the time, and very quickly mocked on the Internet, before resurfacing as a wink in the campaign, after the performance deemed calamitous by Joe Biden during his televised debate against Donald Trump.
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