Democratic Party delegates will begin voting virtually to officially nominate Kamala Harris as their candidate for the White House, a nomination that the vice president is guaranteed because she has no opponents.
The Voting will start this Thursday, August 1stat 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time and will conclude on August 5 at 6:00 p.m., in accordance with the rules established by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Instead of crowning their nominee during the party’s national convention to be held August 19-22 in Chicago, Democrats adopted this unusual nomination system because Ohio state rules established the August 7th as the deadline to register candidates that will appear on the ballots.
Joe Biden was originally the winner of the Democratic primaries, taking almost all of the party’s 3,900 delegates; however, on July 21, he withdrew from the presidential candidacy after weeks of criticism from within his own ranks for his disastrous participation in the debate with his rival, Republican Donald Trump.
The announcement of the end of his candidacy shortly before the party convention, something unprecedented in the history of the United States, unleashed many doubts about the steps to follow, but Harris quickly won the support of the delegatess who had pledged to vote for Biden.
According to the DNC, the inclusion of Kamala Harris in the nomination vote has the support of 99 percent of the party delegateswhile no other candidate has reached the threshold of 300 signatures to participate.
In addition to having the support of Biden, who named her as his successor, the party’s heavyweights have closed ranks with Harris, like the former president Barack Obamathe former speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
The big mystery to be solved is Who will be Harris’ running mate? who will run for vice president, whose name must also be announced before Ohio closes the ballots on August 7.
Harris is expected to appear alongside her number two for the first time on August 6 at a rally in Philadelphia, according to reports from several US media outlets.
This announcement places the governor of Pennsylvania as the favorite, Josh Shapiroalthough the odds also include the one from Kentucky, Andy Beshear; the one from Minnesota, Tim Walz; the one from IllinoisJB Pritzker; the senator from Arizona Mark Kellyor the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg.
Traditionally, the profile of the vice president seeks to appeal to voters who do not feel so close to the presidential candidate. In the case of Harris, a black woman from California, analysts expect her to choose a white man from another state in the country, especially from a region considered “swing” or who can provide a voter profile that creates a winning coalition.
Meanwhile, the latest polls suggest that Harris is closing the gap in key states where Trump was clearly leading when his rival was Biden.
