US election live updates: top Democrats back Kamala Harris as donations surge after Biden steps aside
By Guardian/Chris Stein/Martin Belam/Helen Sullivan Jul 2024
Vice-president says she will do ‘everything in my power to unite’ the party; ActBlue, the liberal political action committee, says $46.7m raised in hours since Biden withdrew from race
- Democrats rush for new strategy as Harris emerges as favorite
- The 48 hours that consigned Joe Biden’s 2024 candidacy to history
- US voters: share your thoughts about Kamala Harris’s 2024 bid
8h ago05.25 BST
All state Democratic party chairs endorse Harris
All 50 state Democratic party chairs have endorsed Harris to be the party’s new presidential nominee to run against Republican nominee and former president, Donald Trump, Reuters reports.
The chairs held a conference call after President Joe Biden announced he was stepping aside as the party’s candidate.
“Following President Biden’s announcement, our members immediately assembled to unite behind the candidate who has a track record of winning tough elections, and who is a proven leader on the issues that matter to Americans: reproductive freedom, gun violence prevention, climate protection, justice reform, and rebuilding the economy,” said Ken Martin, president of the Association of State Democratic Committees, in a statement.
4m ago13.31 BST
Kentucky governor Beshear endorses Harris
Lauren Gambino
Andy Beshear, the recently re-elected Democratic governor of red state Kentucky, just endorsed Kamala Harris.
Beshear had been among those thought to be potential replacements for Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, but in an interview with MSNBC, he threw his support behind the vice-president, describing her as a unifier in our partisan era:
Partisanship is now everywhere. From the car you drive to the beer you drink, you’re supposed to pick a side, and we just can’t continue that. And that’s why I think that the vice-president can give a compelling message about being better for me, that’s certainly about my faith, and it’s about living my faith and caring about absolutely everyone.
And so, this election, especially with the contrast of such a divisive figure like former president Trump, who spews anger, that we can create a contrast that hopefully not only wins this election, but moves us past all this craziness we’ve been living in.
25m ago13.10
BSTKamala Harris to make first speech since Biden exited race and endorsed her
Kamala Harris is expected to make her first public appearance on Monday since Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 election campaign.
With Biden still absent in Delaware and recovering from Covid, the vice-president will greet the NCAA championship teams from the 2023-24 season at the White House.
That is due to take place at 11.30 ET (16.30 BST) on the South Lawn, and Harris is expected to address the media.
Reacting to Biden’s decision to step aside and to nominate her as his chosen replacement, yesterday Harris said “I am honored to have the president’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.”
A number of significant figures who might have been expected to challenge Harris, including governors Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer, have indicated they will not be running. Senator Joe Manchin, who floated the idea he might run, also opted out.
Out of 263 congressional Democrats and 23 Democratic governors, so far over 175 have endorsed Harris, with several states already promising Harris over 500 delegates when the party comes together for its convention in Chicago in mid-August.
In announcing that he would end his re-election campaign on Sunday, Biden said: “I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
47m ago12.48 BST
There had been some chatter that Sen Joe Manchin, who recently changed his party affiliation to independent, might mount a bid for the Democratic nomination, but Reuters has a quick snap that he has, in a CBS interview, now ruled it out.
More details soon …
51m ago12.43 BST
Lauren Gambino
Lauren Gambino in Washington DC
On Sunday, before Joe Biden made his earth-shaking decision known, the president spoke multiple times by phone with Kamala Harris, his vice-president and the person to whom he offered his “full support and endorsement.”
During the sequence of calls, he told her he would not seek re-election and that he intended to pass the torch to Harris, according to a person familiar.
Surrounded by family and staff at the vice-president’s Residence at Number One Observatory Circle in Washington DC, Harris, wearing workout sweats, sneakers and a hooded sweatshirt from her alma mater, Howard University, spent more than 10 hours, calling party leaders, members of Congress, governors, labor leaders, and leaders of advocacy and civil rights organizations, to discuss this extraordinary turn of events, the person said.
Harris made clear on those calls, the person added, that while she was grateful for the president’s endorsement she intended to work for the party’s nomination. Among Harris’s many calls on Sunday was to her pastor, Amos Brown III, who, along with his wife, prayed over her, the person said.
Harris and her assembled aides paused only briefly for lunch – salad and sandwiches – and dinner – pizza, her’s topped with anchovies.
By the end of the day, Harris’s campaign had raised nearly $50m and leading Democrats, including those who had been named as potential alternatives should Biden bow out, lined up behind the vice-president in a remarkable show of unity after weeks of internal party turmoil.
1h ago12.21 BST
Lauren Hitt, spokesperson for what was the Joe Biden campaign, and who is now part of the Kamala Harris campaign machinery, has said that “since the president endorsed the vice-president yesterday afternoon, everyday Americans have given $49.6m in grassroots donations to her campaign.”
1h ago12.16 BST
Key Democratic party figures who have endorsed Kamala Harris – at a glance
Here are some of the key figures in the Democratic party who have already endorsed vice-president Kamala Harris to pick up the party’s presidential nomination in Joe Biden’s stead.
- Gavin Newsom: frequently tipped as a possible alternative to Biden in recent weeks, the California governor has backed Harris, saying “no one is better to prosecute the case against Donald Trump’s dark vision and guide our country in a healthier direction than America’s vice-president.”
- Pete Buttigieg: Biden’s transport secretary who ran for the Democratic nomination for 2020, said “Kamala Harris is now the right person to take up the torch, defeat Donald Trump, and succeed Joe Biden as president. I will do all that I can to help her win this election to lead America forward as our next President.”
- Josh Shapiro: the Pennsylvania governor said “I’ve known Kamala Harris for nearly two decades. She has served the country honorably and is ready to be president”
- Gretchen Whitmer: another name that had been in the frame, has not given vocal backing to Harris by name, but issued a statement saying “My job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump.”
- Chris Coons: the Delaware senator is a close Biden ally, and said on CNN “I support vice-president Harris. I am very hopeful that we will come out of our convention next month united.”
- Cori Bush: the Missouri representative backed Harris to the hilt, saying “Black women are the backbone of the Democratic party and it is past time for us to lead our country forward. Kamala Harris is more than ready to lead this moment.”
- Kirsten Gillibrand: describing Harris as “my friend”, the New York senator said “I’m proud to endorse her – and I’m eager to join her in this fight.”
- Amy Klobuchar: stating that Harris has served “with honor and distinction”, the Minnesota senator said “she will be the candidate to bring us together to win in November.”
The Washington Post has tallied that from 263 congressional Democrats and 23 Democratic governors, so far 178 have endorsed Harris.
Senators to have endorsed Harris already include Michael Bennet, Laphonza Butler, Maria Cantwell, Benjamin L Cardin, Bob Casey, Catherine Cortez Masto, Martin Heinrich, John Hickenlooper, Mazie Hirono, Tim Kaine, Mark Kelly, Ben Ray Luján, Edward J Markey, Chris Murphy, Patty Murray, Jon Ossoff, Alex Padilla, Jacky Rosen, Brian Schatz, Tina Smith, Debbie Stabenow, Mark R Warner, Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden.
The vice-president has also secured support from the Democratic governors of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Washington.
Notable absentees from the list of those explicitly supporting her so far include Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi, who have all paid tribute to Biden’s decision and political career without yet venturing on who they would like to see take his role. However, several other party grandees have swung behind Harris.
- Bill and Hillary Clinton: the former president and former secretary of state and defeated candidate in 2016 Hillary Clinton issued a joint statement which said “Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we’ve got to elect.”
- Elizabeth Warren: the veteran senator also voiced her support, saying “When you’re up against a convicted felon, who better than a former prosecutor to take it straight to Donald Trump? She’s ready to do this job, and she’s going to win.”
- Joe Biden: last and by no means least, the president himself said “I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
2h ago11.47 BST
The New York Times reports that the Democratic party in New Jersey will have a delegates call today, with Gov Phil Murphy leading it to rally around support for vice-president Kamala Harris’ run for the presidential nomination. The Connecticut Democratic party is also expected to meet this evening to decide whether the state’s 74 delegate votes will switch from Joe Biden to Harris.
2h ago11.24 BST
The chair of Pennsylvania’s state Democratic Party, state senator Sharif Street, has said he expects the states delegates to support Kamala Harris in her bid to replace president Joe Biden at the top of the ticket in November.
The Philadelphia Inquirer quotes him saying “I have not heard from one delegate who said that he or she would not be supporting vice-president Harris.”
He suggested that the nomination of Harris could energise the campaign, saying “[Biden’s] age shouldn’t have been a focus but now when you look at the record, the record is incredibly strong. Look, young people were reluctant to vote for someone who was the age of their grandparent, and now they don’t have to do that.”
3h ago11.01 BST
Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei for Axios have described the last eight days, starting with the shooting at Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally and ending with Joe Biden quitting his re-election bid, as “the wildest and weirdest presidential campaign of our lifetime”.
In the outlet’s morning newsletter for the US audience, Allen writes:
A Biden friend, pointing to the president’s rage over last week’s leaks, barbs and lectures from Democrats at all levels, told us: “It was fury for a while. Then he surrendered to reality. He’s a professional.”
In the end, it was the data, including grim polling from swing states. “No one was able to produce data points that showed him winning,” said a Democratic insider who has been at the center of the party’s frantic conversations since Biden’s debate debacle 25 days ago. “They tried everything. There was no path.”
3h ago10.58 BST
The UK’s recently elected prime minister Keir Starmer has been asked again about the prospects for the US election, and has said that the UK would work with “whoever the American people put into office”.
He told the media in the UK “the US is a reliable and trusted ally has been for many, many years, and you can see that in the Nato council just ten days or so ago.”
He again praised the outgoing president’s leadership role at that summit, saying “Biden’s leadership drove through the council and it was a great success.”
3h ago10.27 BST
When the Democratic National Convention meets in Chicago on 17 August, any nominee for president needs to secure the votes of 1,986 delegates. Joe Biden had more than 3,800 delegate pledged to vote for him after the primary season, but those people are now released from that obligation.
Kamala Harris has, according to the latest count by website The Hill, already secured votes from 531 delegates, with the states of Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Florida and Louisiana all offering support.
3h ago10.22 BST
Deborah Cole
Deborah Cole is a Berlin correspondent for the Guardian
Germany’s mainstream political class expressed respect and a degree of relief over president Joe Biden stepping aside in the race given deep-seated fears for Europe about a win by Donald Trump in November.
The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who had only recently expressed strong support for Biden’s bid for a second term, praised Biden’s tough call, posting to social media to say “My friend Joe Biden has achieved a lot: for his country, for Europe, for the world. Thanks to him, transatlantic cooperation is close, Nato is strong and the US is a good and reliable partner for us. His decision not to run again deserves respect.”
The vice-chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck, echoed the remarks, voicing “great esteem” for Biden and his choice to stand down. Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who opposes a second Trump term, also said he had “great respect” for Biden’s decision to end his lifetime of political service in January.
However the CDU’s deputy parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei warned against “euphoria” about a potential run by Kamala Harris. He told public broadcaster RBB she had “failed” to develop her own strong profile in office, meaning the switch of candidate might fail to materialise as an “act of liberation” for the Democrats.
Thomas Jäger, a political scientist at the University of Cologne, criticised the chaotic way Biden made the bombshell announcement, catching his party on the backfoot. “He let them run into an open knife … it almost seemed like an act of revenge” on those he felt had betrayed him, he said.
Jäger told rolling news channel NTV he expected the “voices to grow louder” for Biden to step down immediately as president, with scrutiny of his fitness growing even stronger now that he’s tried to hand the baton to Harris.
He said it was “very very optimistic” to believe that Harris as nominee would mark a “breakthrough” for the Democrats, given her weak profile and short time left to campaign.
3h ago10.06 BST
Our picture desk has put together this gallery of Joe Biden’s political career from when he first became a senator in 1972 to the present day.
4h ago10.01 BST
Reuters is reporting that US stock index futures climbed on Monday on the news that president Joe Biden was withdrawing from the election.
The news agency quotes Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics saying “Donald Trump is still the solid favorite to win the presidential election, but betting markets suggest he has a slightly lower probability of beating Harris rather than Biden.
“Harris will have a real chance to sell herself to the American public in the second presidential debate, currently scheduled for 10 September, although the Trump campaign could withdraw, not wanting to go toe-to-toe with the ex-attorney.”
Reuters states that investers are braced for high volatility this week, and notes that shares of Trump-linked stocks such as Trump Media & Technology Group and software firm Phunware were up.
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