Kamala Harris gets votes needed to secure Democratic nomination: Party

United States Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the votes needed to become the Democratic 2024 presidential nominee, the party’s chairman said, setting up a November showdown against Republican Donald Trump.

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said on Friday that Harris had crossed the threshold of delegate votes needed to clinch the nomination. The online voting process – known as a virtual roll call – does not formally end until Monday.

“I am so proud to confirm that Vice President Harris has earned more than a majority of votes from all convention delegates, and will be the nominee of the Democratic Party following the close of voting on Monday,” Harrison said during a call with supporters.

Harris, the first Black and the first Asian American vice president in US history, is now poised to be the first woman of colour at the top of a major US political party’s ticket.

“I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I will officially accept the nomination next week,” she wrote on social media.

“This campaign is about people coming together, fueled by love of country, to fight for the best of who we are.”

Coming only a day after the virtual roll call began, the widely expected announcement followed a statement from Harris’s campaign that said it had raised $310m last month amid a surge in small donations.The campaign said the July figure includes more than $200m in donations in the week after President Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election campaign.

Harris has secured strong backing from her party since she entered the race, with Harrison – the DNC chair – saying on Friday that Democrats planned to “rally around” her during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this month.

Harris’s campaign also said two-thirds of its July donations came from first-tim

e donors, signalling “tremendous support” for her candidacy.

The sum is more than double the $138.7m raised in July by former President Trump, the GOP’s 2024 nominee.

“There has never been anything like the MAGA Movement,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday evening, referring to supporters who rally under his Make America Great Again slogan.

“We raised $139 Million Dollars in July alone. We now have a whopping $327 Million Cash On Hand. Spectacular support from Great American Patriots who are donating to our Campaign for President of the United States, and helping out in many other ways,” he said.