Washington Wednesday: Harris takes the stage

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 24th of July. This is WORLD Radio and we’re happy you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday.

What a turn of events! After President Biden quit the race on Sunday, some key Democrats hesitated to embrace his VP. By Monday, Kamala Harris had broken a single-day fundraising record, and by Tuesday she’d amassed the support of a majority of delegates to power her unorthodox rise to the top of the ticket.

REICHARD: How did party leaders go from mixed feelings to broad support so quickly? Here now is WORLD’s Washington Bureau reporter Leo Briceno.

LEO BRICENO: When Craig Ellis watched last month’s presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, he remembers feeling worried, then angry.

CRAIG ELLIS: At first I was mostly mad at the people around him that they let it get this bad, that they didn’t let us—because obviously this isn’t just, this has been happening for some time. Then I got mad at Joe when he refused to step down.

But that feeling turned to relief when Biden announced his decision to step aside. As a California Democrat, Ellis isn’t sure if Kamala Harris could defeat Donald Trump, but…

ELLIS: I don’t think she can be worse than Joe—at least that. I did say that to somebody the other day, that she might not win either, but at least I think she would do better than Joe would.

In the aftermath of Biden’s announcement, several high-profile Democrats withheld their support from Vice President Harris, including former President Barack Obama. But congressional democrats have largely rallied to Harris’ side. If considerations for an alternative still exist, they aren’t letting it show.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries both endorsed Harris on Tuesday afternoon.

JEFFRIES: Vice President Harris has earned the nomination.

SCHUMER: And now begins the next chapter in our quest to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president.

Schumer framed Harris’ rise as a “grassroots” change in the party—not a predetermined outcome from leadership. But almost immediately after Biden announced his decision, many Democrats snapped in line behind Harris. Others, that had originally called for an open convention like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also threw their support behind Vice President Harris.

Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas used to be one of Biden’s campaign co-chairs. Here’s Escobar, walking into the Capitol on Monday.

ESCOBAR: I found out when everyone else did. I was actually sitting on a plane, heading to D.C. and thankfully had wifi on the plane so I was able to read his letter. And you know my view was immediately like I had to get a statement out ASAP to support the vice president.

Members described a sense of renewed energy with the change in ticket—and not just in the Capitol. Here’s Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee, walking into a leadership meeting.

KILDEE: Hundreds of new volunteers walking into our headquarters across the state of Michigan, people who are suddenly really excited, enthused. I love Joe Biden, but I think it’s a fact we were having a difficult time activating our base. We have that problem solved.

Same goes for the fundraising side of things. Harris’ campaign claims it raised 100 million dollars in less than 36 hours—an eye-popping sum.

Despite Harris’ momentum, some notable members have stopped short of outright backing the vice president. Minnesota Congressman and former presidential candidate Dean Phillips says he won’t formally endorse her.

PHILLIPS: My focus was always the principle of competition and defeating a culture of silence. Those were my objectives and I believe competition generates better outcomes and better policies and better candidates and the absence of it is problematic.

Phillips says that he “supports” Harris but objects to how quickly the party dubbed her the presumptive nominee without a real conversation.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, the first Democrat lawmaker who called on Biden to step aside after last month’s debate, also wanted the party to debate the matter at the convention but thinks that window has closed now.

DOGGETT: I called for a fair, open, and democratic process to select a new nominee, but all of those various people that were mentioned as possible nominees within 24 hours, in fact within much less than that, endorsed Vice President Harris. So I think we’re now ready to move forward to the convention, especially since delegations, including mine from Texas, of convention delegates have endorsed her.

I asked Doggett if he expects Harris to significantly change the direction of the party’s platform.

DOGGETT: “I don’t know” is the honest answer. I think she will have a hand in shaping the platform and whether there will be any significant adjustments from last time remains to be seen. But I think as our almost certain nominee she should be helping to write the platform.

Harris has yet to articulate how or if she will shift away from Biden’s policy priorities. Harris ran for president in 2020 on a platform of universal healthcare coverage, environmental policy, and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants—a platform more to the left of Biden who, at the time, was pitching himself as a moderate.

While Democrats have a sense of momentum, onlooking Republicans see a party still trying to figure out basic questions less than 4 months before a presidential election.

My colleague Carolina Lumetta spoke with Wisconsin Republican delegate Pam Van Handel at last week’s Republican National Convention.

HANDEL: I think that the last eight to ten days have been very crazy starting with that debate and I thought things are really going south. They went even souther after the shooting, but I feel like everybody's really come together. I think the Democratic Party is in total chaos, but I feel like we've all come together, especially at the convention.

The Democratic National Convention begins on August 19, but the Rules Committee meets today to formalize plans for a virtual roll call to nominate Harris as early as next week. This would ensure she is on the ballot in Ohio and Washington, which have earlier deadlines. As of Tuesday, Harris has already secured more than 3,000 delegates as state parties re-vote for the ticket. This essentially secures her position as the presumptive nominee. But as Harris told campaign staff in Delaware yesterday, the race is far from over.

HARRIS: So in the next 106 days, we have work to do. We have doors to knock on, we have people to talk to, we have phone calls to make, and we have an election to win.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leo Briceno in Washington, D.C.

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