Leading Democrats back Kamala Harris as donations surge following Biden’s withdrawal from race – live

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Harris. Occasio-Cortez was a notable hold-out when Congressional Democrats had been calling on Biden to step down.

“Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November,” Ocasio-Cortez stated on Twitter/X:

If you’re simply becoming a member of us, senior Democrats, together with a few of those that have been named as potential contenders for the Presidential or Vice-Pesidential nomination, endorsed Kamala Harris for president on Sunday, inside hours of Biden saying that he could be dropping out of the race.

And donors rushed to donate to the occasion, with $30 million raised by Sunday night. One strategist stated it is perhaps the “greatest fundraising moment in Democratic Party history”.

Democrats shortly rallied round Vice President Kamala Harris as their possible presidential nominee Sunday in a unstable and fast-moving political state of affairs simply months earlier than the November election.

Shortly after Biden stepped apart he firmly endorsed Harris, who would make historical past as the nation’s first Black and South Asian girl to change into a significant occasion’s presidential nominee. Other endorsements flowed from former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the primary main feminine presidential nominee, and outstanding US senators, a large swath of House representatives and members of the influential Congressional Black Caucus.

Former President Barack Obama and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi haven’t explicitly endorsed Harris. Harris says she intends to “earn and win” the nomination.

Harris was making calls late within the day to congressional lawmakers and racking up help, together with from Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, the chair of the New Democrat Coalition, a reasonable caucus on Capitol Hill, who endorsed Harris Sunday.

Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison promised a “transparent and orderly process.”

Would-be challengers for the job turned immediate Harris supporters. Among prime potential contenders, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has stated she gained’t run, and Govs. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Roy Cooper of North Carolina all endorsed Harris on Sunday.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray stated she is behind Harris “100 percent.” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner stated Harris “has the experience, energy, and resolve to lead our nation.” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy stated he will likely be “enthusiastically supporting my friend.”

Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and California Sen. Laphonza Butler additionally stated they’d help Harris, who had served as a US senator, as did a rising variety of Democratic House lawmakers.

“She has what it takes to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country thoughtfully and with integrity,” Cooper stated on social media.

Democrats donated $30m inside hours of Biden saying his exit, making it the most important fundraising day in years, in line with New York Times reporting, which confirmed that donations went from a mean of beneath $200,000 an hour to $7.5m in a single hour on Sunday.

One strategist stated it is perhaps the “greatest fundraising moment in Democratic party history”.

Congresswoman Cori Bush has launched an announcement thanking Biden for stepping down and “prioritizing our nation’s needs”, and endorsing Kamala Harris for president.

She writes:

The majority of voters throughout our nation are unequivocal of their help for an agenda that acknowledges the humanity of ALL individuals internationally, a everlasting ceasefire in Gaza and an finish to the genocide of Palestinians, scholar debt cancellation, dwelling wages, reasonably priced housing, and full reproductive freedom. With at present’s announcement, Biden has signaled that he has heard and is listening to the voices of thousands and thousands of voters. The resolution to cross the torch to a brand new technology is a principled and vital one.

In 2020, voters turned out to ship Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House. The individuals’s vote was a vote not just for President Biden, however a vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and her potential to defeat MAGA extremism throughout the nation. When we are saying belief Black girls, we imply it. Black girls are the spine of the Democratic Party and it’s previous time for us to steer our nation ahead. Kamala Harris is greater than prepared to steer at this second. As we look ahead to November, it’s clear to me that Vice President Kamala Harris has the imaginative and prescient to hold this legacy ahead, defeat Donald Trump, and I unequivocally endorse her for President of the United States.”

Joe Biden has change into the primary president in 56 years to name off his marketing campaign for re-election, brought down by a disastrous efficiency in his late June debate in opposition to Republican nominee Donald Trump that brought on a marked decline in his public help, and sparked a stress marketing campaign by his fellow Democrats to persuade him to bow out. The president announced his resolution on Twitter/X, as properly as his help for Kamala Harris to take his place. The vice-president replied that “my intention is to earn and win this nomination”, whereas the Democratic occasion chair, Jaime Harrison, said “the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process” to discover a new candidate.

Here are among the of main developments on this breaking story:

• A couple of hours after Biden dropped his re-election bid, his marketing campaign fund was renamed “Harris for President”.

• Barack Obama called Biden “one of America’s most consequential presidents”, however didn’t endorse Harris and appeared to point he needed an open nomination course of on the Democratic nationwide conference subsequent month, in Chicago.

• Hillary and Bill Clinton quickly threw their help behind Harris, as have most outstanding Democrats, together with would-be rivals together with the California governor, Gavin Newsom.

• Democratic donors look like energized. The liberal political motion committee ActBlue introduced that it collected $27.5m in small donor contributions following Biden’s resignation and his endorsement of Harris.

• The Democratic former House speaker Nancy Pelosi was a significant determine in pressuring Biden to finish his re-election bid, and she or he spoke glowingly of him after he left the race.

• The impartial senator Joe Manchin, a center-right political determine who resigned from the Democratic occasion, is contemplating re-enrolling so as to run for pressident, in line with a number of studies.

• Donald Trump heaped scorn on Biden, saying he “was not fit to run for president, and is certainly not fit to serve”.

• Top Republicans in Congress, together with the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and other senior House lawmakers, referred to as on Biden to resign instantly. Notably, Mitch McConnell, the GOP’s Senate minority chief, did not.

• The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, famous his “respect” for Joe Biden’s resolution to exit the presidential race.

We’re additionally seeing scattered studies that Joe Manchin, the center-right West Virginia senator who left the Democratic occasion and is now an impartial, could take into account difficult Kamala Harris.

CNN’s Jake Tapper and MSNBC’s Sam Stein report that Manchin is mulling a run for president, and is contemplating a return to the Democratic occasion so as to take action. The Guardian has not but confirmed their reporting.

Manchin just lately stated he’d left the Democratic occasion as a result of “it’s not the Democratic party I grew up in, that I always knew” in an interview with Tapper.

He additionally stated earlier that it was time for Biden “to pass the torch to a new generation”. The senator is 76 years outdated – just some years youthful than Biden. Technically, he’s simply barely of a more recent technology. Biden is a part of the silent technology (individuals born between 1928 and 1945) and Manchin is a child boomer (born between 1946 and 1964).