WASHINGTON: Vice President Kamala Harris to campaign in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin for the first time as a presidential candidate after securing enough Democratic delegate support to clear a path to the nomination.
Harris has emerged as the Democratic candidate after President Joe Biden, 81, abandoned his re-election campaign on Sunday, after weeks of calls from within his own party to end his bid, questioning his ability to beat former President Donald Trump or to serve for another four-year term.
Less than 36 hours after Biden endorsed Harris, she secured the nomination on Monday night by winning the pledged support of a majority of the party's delegates who will determine the nomination, the campaign said.
"I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee," Harris said in a statement. "I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon."
An unofficial survey of delegates by the Associated Press showed Harris with more than 2,500 delegates, well over the 1,976 needed to win a vote in the coming weeks. Delegates could still, technically, change their minds but nobody else received any votes in the AP survey; 54 delegates said they were undecided.
The Wisconsin trip offers another opportunity for Harris, the first Black woman and Asian-American to serve as vice president, to reset the Democrats' campaign. She is scheduled to speak at a political event in Milwaukee.
Wisconsin is among a trio of Rust-Belt states that include Michigan and Pennsylvania that are critical for Democrats' chances of defeating Trump.
"There are independents and young people who did not like their choices, and Harris has a chance to win them," said Paul Kendrick, executive director of the Democratic group Rust Belt Rising.
Harris has also been raking in campaign contributions. Her campaign said on Monday she had raised $100 million since Biden stepped aside on Sunday, topping the $95 million that the Biden campaign had in the bank at the end of June.
Trump and his allies have tried to keep Harris tethered to some of Biden's more unpopular policies, including his administration's handling of the surge of migrants at the southern border.
A half-dozen leading Democrats in Wisconsin said in interviews that Harris offers the party the opportunity to animate voters who were unenthused about Biden and Trump. — Reuters
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