US: Harris secures enough backing for Democratic nomination

US Vice President Kamala Harris in a statement said she is "proud" to receive support from enough delegates to secure the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

"I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon," Harris said. "Tonight I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party's nominee." 

The Democratic National Committee is expected to hold a virtual roll call on August 7 where it will choose its nominee. The Democratic National Convention from August 19 to 22 would formally nominate Harris and her vice presidential pick. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, who will likely be the Democratic presidential nominee, said Donald Trump "wants to take our country backwards to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights, but we believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans" 

"We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but get ahead," Harris wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In her post, Harris emphasized policy goals such as paid family leave, along with affordable child care and healthcare.

"Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency," Harris said.    

US President Joe Biden is expected to return to the White House in Washington DC on Tuesday, his official schedule says.

Biden has been recovering from a COVID-19 infection. He will depart his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home on Tuesday afternoon and return to the White House at 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT).

Vice President Kamala Harris has received enough support from Democratic Party delegates to receive the party's presidential nomination, AP and Reuters news agencies reported.

An AP news count found that Harris has the support of at least 2,214 delegates, enough to clinch the nomination.

The delegates, however, have not formally nominated Harris yet. Delegates will either take part in a virtual roll call to nominate Harris in the next few weeks, or they would formally vote for Harris during the Democratic National Convention from August 19 to 22 in Chicago. 

The AFL-CIO, a large federation of trade unions in the US, unanimously endorsed Kamala Harris' presidential campaign on Monday. 

The AFL-CIO is made up of 60 unions which represents 12.5 million workers.

Labor unions are a key source of support for the Democratic Party.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has tried to sway unions away from the Democrats towards his electoral bid.

The president of the Teamsters, a union composed of 1.3 million people, spoke at the Republican National Convention last week. The Teamsters, however, have not yet endorsed a candidate in the 2024 race. 

Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his trip to Washington DC this week, an aide for the US Vice President told the Reuters and AFP news agencies.

The aide said Harris' meeting with Netanyahu will be separate from the Israeli prime minister's one-on-one in the White House with US President Joe Biden. 

Netanyahu is expected to meet with Biden on Tuesday, though the president is currently isolating with COVID-19.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu is expected to give an address to lawmakers from the both chambers of Congress. The Harris aide told Reuters that the vice president will not preside over Netanyahu's Congressional speech.   

During her speech to campaign staff, Harris laid out her presidential priorities if she wins the White House in November. 

Harris said strengthening the middle class would be a goal of her presidency.

She also said abortion rights would be a key part of her campaign. 

"We will fight for reproductive freedom, knowing, if Trump gets the chance, he will sign an abortion ban to outlaw abortion in every single state," Harris said.  

The US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022, which said the US Constitution generally protects the right to an abortion. Since overturning Roe v. Wade, some states in the United States have increased restrictions on abortion or issued a complete ban.  

In his first comments since leaving the 2024 presidential race, incumbent President Joe Biden called on members of his party to "embrace" Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden told campaign staff in a call that he will be "out on the road" for Harris, who he has endorsed as the Democratic nominee in the November election. Harris has already won over most of the Democratic delegates she needs to win the presidential nomination.

"I want to say to the team, embrace her. She's the best," Biden said, calling from his beach home in the state of Delaware. "I know yesterday's news is surprising and it's hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do."

US Vice President Kamala Harris  spoke to campaign staff in Delaware. She acknowledged that it's been a "rollercoaster" after US President Joe Biden announced he would end his reelection bid.

Harris said she would go out and earn the Democratic presidential nomination.

The vice president said she would retain Jen O'Malley Dillon and Julie Chavez Rodriguez as the heads of her campaign. Dillon and Rodriguez were spearheading Biden's reelection efforts. 

Harris also spoke of former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee who she would face in the general election. She likened Trump to "predators and cheaters."

Reflecting on her past as a prosecutor in California, Harris said she "took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain."

"So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type," Harris said.

‍US Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign said it had raised $81 million (€74 million) in the first 24 hours after Joe Biden exited the White House race and endorsed her.

"Team Harris raised $81 million in its first 24 hours, adding to the existing near quarter-of-a-billion dollar war chest already amassed this election cycle," the statement said.

The massive haul, which includes money raised across the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees, represents the largest 24-hour sum reported by either side in the 2024 campaign. 

Harris' campaign also said it was the largest single-day total in US history.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance made his first solo campaign rally appearance in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio.

Vance said President Joe Biden was pushed out by a group of party elites, calling it "a threat to democracy."

"The idea of selecting the Democrat party's nominee, because George Soros and Barack Obama and a couple of elite Democrats got in the smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard, that is not how it works," he said, without providing any proof that it was the case. 

Harris is not yet the Democratic nominee for president.

Her campaign said it was working to secure enough support from delegates to the Democrats convention to ensure her nomination. 

The top two Democrats in Congress were expected to meet with Vice President Harris on Monday to discuss endorsing her as their party's next presidential nominee.

House Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said he and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer was "looking forward" to meeting with Harris and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.

He said they'll "have more to say about the path forward" after the meeting.

Harris' campaign has garnered constant endorsements to replace President Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.

Her campaign aims to wrap up her nomination by Wednesday night by securing a majority of the nearly 4,000 Democratic convention delegates needed to win, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told the Reuters news agency.

Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is endorsing Kamala Harris to replace President Joe Biden in the November election. 

"Today, it is with immense pride and limitless optimism for our country’s future that I endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States. My enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for President is official, personal and political," Pelosi, one of the Democratic Party's leading figures, said in a message on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

"Kamala Harris as a woman in politics is brilliantly astute – and I have full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November. "

Harris for President campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt says Vice President Kamala Harris raised $49.6 million (€45.5 million) in donations by Monday morning. 

That amount was raised in the first 15 hours after Harris received President Joe Biden's endorsement.

Biden's campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President on Sunday, reflecting that Harris has inherited Biden's political operation of more than 1,000 staffers.

Even before the latest round of donations, the campaign fund included a war chest that stood at nearly $96 million at the end of June. 

French President Emmanuel Macron has said US President Joe Biden's decision to not seek reelection revealed courage and a sense of duty.

"I take account of the courage, the sense of responsibility and sense of duty that led you to make this decision," Macron said in a letter addressed to Biden.

Other world leaders have also praised Biden's term in office: