With just a few weeks to pick a replacement for President Joe Biden, Democratic Party delegates rapidly rallied en masse behind Kamala Harris, saying the circumstances require a quick and practical choice.
“We don’t have the time to be looking at other candidates,” Iowa delegate Adam Peters told AFP.
Like almost all the delegates attending the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago, Peters was initially supporting Biden to be the party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump in November.
But with the 81-year-old president’s withdrawal on Sunday, those 3,900-plus party stalwarts were suddenly relieved from their commitment and had to consider who to select as their new flag-bearer.
While free to pick whomever they wanted, signals quickly came from Democratic figureheads — including Biden — that Vice President Harris was the best choice, with any opposition likely to open more divisions at a time of crisis.
For Peters, a 36-year-old director of an LGBTQ center, Harris is the “unifying candidate that we have — the only one.”
Acknowledging concerns that delegates were rushing in their decision to back Harris, Peters argued that given the circumstances of the shortened timeline, the safest bet was to back “a person that is proven and that has that support by a majority of Americans.”
“There is no good way to do this, and the more time that we spend looking at other candidates… is a waste of time when we could be talking about the danger that is Donald Trump,” he said.
‘Media frenzy’
More than half of the delegates have already announced their support for Harris, which does not yet make her the formal nominee, but all but assures she will be the party’s pick in short order.
The delegates are party activists from all across the country and have diverse backgrounds — from clerics to teachers to local elected officials.
Like most others, Kevin Sabellico of California wants to quickly turn the page on the weeks of turmoil following Biden’s disastrous debate.
“We have to select a party nominee, and we have to do it quickly, and we have to come together and unite behind her, because these last few three weeks or so of infighting and the media frenzy around our nominee have not been helpful. It’s really hurt us,” Sabellico told AFP.
A 26-year-old veteran of political campaigns, he said he has worked with Harris before.
“I’ve seen her when the cameras are off, and her leadership, her mental toughness, her courage… it’s exactly what we need in this moment to take on Donald Trump and finish the job,” Sabellico said.
‘Grandstand’ worries
On Sunday evening, just hours after Biden announced his withdrawal, Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Hendrell Remus said he was worried about what might come next.
“I hope that we don’t see a situation where Democrats who are looking for an opportunity to make a name for themselves try to grandstand and become candidates in this race,” he told AFP.
“I think now is the time for us to get behind Kamala Harris as a nominee.”
Two days later, after an outpouring of support for Harris and her record-breaking fundraising, Remus can rest easy.
How the Democratic delegates will formally nominate their candidate is due to be discussed on Wednesday at a meeting of the party’s rules committee.
An online roll call vote is expected sometime before August 7 — ahead of the Chicago convention beginning August 19 — due to possible legal issues in Ohio.
