United States President Joe Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential race.
Biden wrote on his official X handle Sunday evening, “My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made.
“Today 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.”
For years Kamala Harris faced criticism that she was not up to the job of being a heartbeat away from the presidency. Now, she finds herself feted by Democrats as their best hope to stop Donald Trump’s comeback.
Despite blazing a trail as the first woman, Black and South Asian vice president in US history, the 59-year-old Democrat long struggled with approval ratings as bad or worse than President Joe Biden’s.
The last 12 months, however, have revealed a transformed Harris.
And with Biden’s endorsement of Harris after stunning the world by dropping his own reelection bid Sunday, she’s suddenly on the cusp of history.
Harris will hope she has done the hard work to earn her full party’s backing in the midst of the crisis.
As the ageing Biden faded over the last year, his “veep” emerged as a force on the campaign trail, pushing for abortion rights and reaching out to core voters, including suburban women and Black men.
With a fondness for the f-bomb and her family nickname of “Momala” going viral, she has also finally started to cut through the noise to voters who previously barely paid attention.
She has also won plaudits in party circles by staying loyal to the 81-year-old president during the last few weeks, even as political vultures circled over his candidacy.
She now is likely to face Trump — a brutal battle against a candidate who defeated Hillary Clinton in her bid become the first female commander in chief in 2016.
The fact that Harris has blamed much of the criticism of her by Republicans on racism and sexism would likely make a win feel even more vindicating for her.
Trump and other Republicans have notably stepped up their attacks on her as Biden’s position weakened and polls showed Harris would fare better against him than Biden.
