US: Harris secures enough backing for Democratic nomination

Kamala Harris has raised more than $100 million (€93 million) between Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, political website The Hill reported.

The report said some 1.1 million individuals donated to the campaign.

It comes after the campaign claimed to have broken a single-day fundraising record earlier on Monday.

Kamala Harris is set to hold her first campaign rally on Tuesday after becoming the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination as President Joe Biden stepped out of the race.

The rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was already scheduled before Sunday's announcement, but it will now take on a new meaning in the key battleground state.

Wisconsin makes up part of the Democrat's "blue wall strategy" that also includes Michigan and Pennsylvania. Biden won all three key states in 2020 and they could determine the winner of the 2024 election.

The Republicans also held their national convention in Milwaukee, highlighting the importance of the state.

A new poll by CBS and YouGov showed that 83% registered Democratic voters approved of President Joe Biden's decision to step down as the presidential candidate for the 2024 elections.

The poll also said 45% of those surveyed believed Democrats now had a better chance of winning against Republican nominee Donald Trump. 28% of them said it depended on who the Democratic nominee would be, and 10% said the chances of victory were worse now.

79% of them believed Kamala Harris should be the new Democratic nominee, whereas 21% said it should be someone else.

The preference for Harris was consistent across gender, race and age.

The poll also showed 43% believed Biden's legacy will be looked back upon as "excellent." Only 3% said it would be "poor."

President Joe Biden, who is recovering from COVID said he was "determined to get as much done" as he can as he prepares to leave office in another six months, the Associated Press reported.

"I'm still going to be fully fully engaged," Biden told his staff on Monday during a call from his beach home in Delaware. 

One of Biden's goals is to get Israel and Hamas militant group to sign a cease-fire agreement that also ensures the return of Israeli hostages. He is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, and is optimistic about securing a peace deal.

"I'll be working really closely with the Israelis and with the Palestinians to try to work out how we can get the Gaza war to end and Middle East peace and get all those hostages home. I think we're on the verge of being able to do that," he told his campaign staff.

"You might get a cease-fire no matter what Biden does or doesn't do. Biden and Kamala Harris have to be careful with respect to how Republicans may interpret, exploit and use anything that is seen as pressure on Israel," Aaron David Miller, a former US Middle East peace negotiator told AP news agency.

Biden is also expected to quickly fill up the 48 federal judiciary vacancies and make other appointments amid opposition from Senate Republicans.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asked his staff to stay on path and carry out their foreign policy work as well.

US Vice President Kamala Harris in a statement said she is "proud" to receive support from enough delegates to secure the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

"I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon," Harris said. "Tonight I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party's nominee." 

The Democratic National Committee is expected to hold a virtual roll call on August 7 where it will choose its nominee. The Democratic National Convention from August 19 to 22 would formally nominate Harris and her vice presidential pick. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, who will likely be the Democratic presidential nominee, said Donald Trump "wants to take our country backwards to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights, but we believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans" 

"We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but get ahead," Harris wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In her post, Harris emphasized policy goals such as paid family leave, along with affordable child care and healthcare.

"Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency," Harris said.    

US President Joe Biden is expected to return to the White House in Washington DC on Tuesday, his official schedule says.

Biden has been recovering from a COVID-19 infection. He will depart his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home on Tuesday afternoon and return to the White House at 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT).

Vice President Kamala Harris has received enough support from Democratic Party delegates to receive the party's presidential nomination, AP and Reuters news agencies reported.

An AP news count found that Harris has the support of at least 2,214 delegates, enough to clinch the nomination.

The delegates, however, have not formally nominated Harris yet. Delegates will either take part in a virtual roll call to nominate Harris in the next few weeks, or they would formally vote for Harris during the Democratic National Convention from August 19 to 22 in Chicago. 

The AFL-CIO, a large federation of trade unions in the US, unanimously endorsed Kamala Harris' presidential campaign on Monday. 

The AFL-CIO is made up of 60 unions which represents 12.5 million workers.

Labor unions are a key source of support for the Democratic Party.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has tried to sway unions away from the Democrats towards his electoral bid.

The president of the Teamsters, a union composed of 1.3 million people, spoke at the Republican National Convention last week. The Teamsters, however, have not yet endorsed a candidate in the 2024 race. 

Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his trip to Washington DC this week, an aide for the US Vice President told the Reuters and AFP news agencies.

The aide said Harris' meeting with Netanyahu will be separate from the Israeli prime minister's one-on-one in the White House with US President Joe Biden. 

Netanyahu is expected to meet with Biden on Tuesday, though the president is currently isolating with COVID-19.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu is expected to give an address to lawmakers from the both chambers of Congress. The Harris aide told Reuters that the vice president will not preside over Netanyahu's Congressional speech.   

During her speech to campaign staff, Harris laid out her presidential priorities if she wins the White House in November. 

Harris said strengthening the middle class would be a goal of her presidency.

She also said abortion rights would be a key part of her campaign. 

"We will fight for reproductive freedom, knowing, if Trump gets the chance, he will sign an abortion ban to outlaw abortion in every single state," Harris said.  

The US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022, which said the US Constitution generally protects the right to an abortion. Since overturning Roe v. Wade, some states in the United States have increased restrictions on abortion or issued a complete ban.  

In his first comments since leaving the 2024 presidential race, incumbent President Joe Biden called on members of his party to "embrace" Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden told campaign staff in a call that he will be "out on the road" for Harris, who he has endorsed as the Democratic nominee in the November election. Harris has already won over most of the Democratic delegates she needs to win the presidential nomination.

"I want to say to the team, embrace her. She's the best," Biden said, calling from his beach home in the state of Delaware. "I know yesterday's news is surprising and it's hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do."

US Vice President Kamala Harris  spoke to campaign staff in Delaware. She acknowledged that it's been a "rollercoaster" after US President Joe Biden announced he would end his reelection bid.

Harris said she would go out and earn the Democratic presidential nomination.

The vice president said she would retain Jen O'Malley Dillon and Julie Chavez Rodriguez as the heads of her campaign. Dillon and Rodriguez were spearheading Biden's reelection efforts. 

Harris also spoke of former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee who she would face in the general election. She likened Trump to "predators and cheaters."

Reflecting on her past as a prosecutor in California, Harris said she "took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain."

"So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type," Harris said.

‍US Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign said it had raised $81 million (€74 million) in the first 24 hours after Joe Biden exited the White House race and endorsed her.

"Team Harris raised $81 million in its first 24 hours, adding to the existing near quarter-of-a-billion dollar war chest already amassed this election cycle," the statement said.

The massive haul, which includes money raised across the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees, represents the largest 24-hour sum reported by either side in the 2024 campaign. 

Harris' campaign also said it was the largest single-day total in US history.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance made his first solo campaign rally appearance in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio.

Vance said President Joe Biden was pushed out by a group of party elites, calling it "a threat to democracy."

"The idea of selecting the Democrat party's nominee, because George Soros and Barack Obama and a couple of elite Democrats got in the smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard, that is not how it works," he said, without providing any proof that it was the case. 

Harris is not yet the Democratic nominee for president.

Her campaign said it was working to secure enough support from delegates to the Democrats convention to ensure her nomination.