What’s next for Kamala Harris’ campaign?

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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden

endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris

to lead the presidential ticket after ending his re-election campaign on July 21, raising the chance that she could be the first black woman to be president of the United States.

Ms Harris, in many ways, has been preparing for this moment for the past year as she emerged as one of the Biden campaign’s more aggressive voices on abortion rights and attacks on former president Donald Trump.

Mr Biden spoke to Ms Harris on the morning of July 21 before he posted a letter online informing the world that he would be stepping down as the Democratic nominee.

In another post less than half an hour later, he endorsed Ms Harris, who quickly issued a statement saying she intended to “earn and win this nomination”.

There are many questions that Ms Harris and her team will face in the days ahead.

What about her campaign?

Ms Harris will now need to take over the vast infrastructure of Mr Biden’s campaign, which has roughly 1,300 staff members and dozens of offices around the nation. There are signs that is already happening.

On a call with the Biden campaign staff on July 21, Ms Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Biden campaign chair, and Ms Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the Biden campaign manager, informed the staff members that they were all now working for Harris for President, according to two people who listened to the call.

“We’re all going to do it the same,” Ms Chavez Rodriguez said.

Ms Harris already has connections to Ms Chavez Rodriguez, who served as Ms Harris’ state director when she was in the Senate. Ms Chavez Rodriguez later worked on her unsuccessful 2020 campaign for president.

The Vice-President has ramped up her own campaign team in the past year – although they maintained it was just to support her as Biden’s No. 2.

Her advisers for her vice-presidential campaign team include Mr Brian Fallon, the communications director, who also worked for Mrs Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and Ms Sheila Nix, the chief of staff, who held the same position in Mrs Jill Biden’s office when Mr Biden was vice-president.

If Ms Harris is the nominee, who will be her vice-presidential pick?

Well aware of the cold reality of identity politics, Democrats assume that if Ms Harris, the first black and Asian American woman to be vice-president, were nominated to the presidency, she would most likely balance her ticket with a white man.

An emerging favourite is North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Southern moderate who works with a Republican legislature and has joined Ms Harris in attacking Republicans over abortion rights restrictions.

Ms Harris got to know Mr Cooper when they were both attorneys-general of their states. The Vice-President travelled to North Carolina on July 18 to hold a campaign rally with Mr Cooper.

Another candidate mentioned is Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who won a second term in a conservative state in 2023. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro could theoretically help Democrats capture a swing state battleground critical to victory in November. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire who could provide substantial financing for the campaign, is another possibility.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, an energetic foil to Trump, has also been mentioned, but a West Coast liberal would not be the most obvious candidate to help Ms Harris in the vital swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

If Ms Harris wants to make history and roll the dice, she could select Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which would test whether America is ready for two women in the White House.

Whom does she rely on?

After a series of stilted appearances when the new Vice-President showed little command of policy, Ms Harris shook up her team of senior aides and, in 2022, brought veteran political operatives into her inner circle.

Ms Harris elevated Ms Lorraine Voles, who served as director of communications for former vice-president Al Gore, to be her chief of staff. Ms Voles, a crisis communications expert, had previously advised Ms Harris on communications and had worked on the presidential campaigns of Mr Michael Dukakis in 1988 and Mr Walter Mondale in 1984.

Ms Harris has also promoted Ms Kirsten Allen, who worked on Ms Harris’s short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, from press secretary to communications director. Ms Stephanie Young joined Ms Harris’ staff in 2023 as a senior adviser focused on outreach and messaging from her role working with a voting rights organisation founded by Mrs Michelle Obama.

Ms Harris has also worked closely with Mr Jeffrey Zients, the White House chief of staff.

Ms Harris has relied on Democratic operatives, donors and lawmakers she has worked with in her previous roles for advice. They have counselled her to lean into her own voice and appeal to reach crucial voting blocs, including business leaders and black men.

What about the money and delegates?

Mr Biden made it clear on July 21 that Ms Harris would take control of at least part of his campaign apparatus when he posted a link to what was his “Biden-Harris” donation page. Now, it states in bold letters: “Donate to elect Kamala Harris”.

Ms Harris will most likely have no interruption in taking control of the US$96 million (S$129 million) the Biden-Harris campaign held as at June 30. The money is held in the campaign accounts and, therefore, Ms Harris would be able to use it to face Trump in November. This has been the thrust of her support from donors, who have rallied behind her in recent weeks.

Mr Biden also gave Ms Harris an advantage by endorsing her. But he cannot force the Democratic convention delegates to follow his lead. They are essentially free agents, able to vote for any candidate of their choosing.

Mr Biden’s endorsement will provide some influence on the delegates, but she does not automatically receive their votes.

Will the Democrats support her?

Ms Harris drew endorsements from a range of influential Democrats on July 21, including former president Bill Clinton, Mrs Clinton and the Congressional Black Caucus.

But there are still other prominent Democrats, such as Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, who said before July 21 that they would favour an open-primary contest, in which Ms Harris would compete with other potential nominees.

It is unclear whether Mrs Pelosi will continue to favour such a contest, and whether any potential candidates will be willing to challenge Ms Harris and create more uncertainty in the party.

Notably, in a statement issued on July 21 after Mr Biden’s decision to drop out, former president Barack Obama did not endorse Ms Harris.

“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” Mr Obama said. “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”

A person familiar with Mr Obama’s thinking said later on July 21 that the former president was following the same policy of neutrality he adopted during the 2020 Democratic primaries, when Mr Biden faced a field of competitors, and wanted to help unite the party once there was an official nominee.

But Representative Robert Garcia said in an interview that there would not be an open convention and that the Democratic Party would unite around Ms Harris. He was co-chair for Ms Harris’ 2020 campaign, and she swore him in as mayor of Long Beach, California.

“It’s not happening,” Mr Garcia said. “There will be no open convention. A lot of folks are going to take their cues from the President.”

Ms Harris also received the endorsement of Representative James Clyburn, an influential South Carolina Democrat who helped revive Mr Biden’s campaign in 2020.

“I echo the good judgment he demonstrated in selecting Vice-President Harris to lead this nation alongside him, and I am proud to follow his lead in support of her candidacy to succeed him as the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominee for president,” Mr Clyburn said in a statement.

Ms Harris wasted no time in building support for her candidacy on July 21. She called Representative Steven Horsford, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and said she would “run and earn it and win it”, according to a congressional official familiar with the discussion.

Mr Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, issued a statement saying the next steps on the nomination process would be coming “in short order”.

“The work that we must do now, while unprecedented, is clear,” Mr Harrison said. “In the coming days, the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.” NYTIMES