Washington: With just weeks to choose a replacement for President Joe Biden, Democratic delegates quickly rallied behind Kamala Harris, saying the circumstances called for a quick and practical choice.
“We don’t have time to look at other candidates,” Iowa delegate Adam Peters told AFP.
Like nearly all of the delegates attending the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month, Peters initially backed Biden to be the party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump in November.
But after the 81-year-old president’s resignation on Sunday, those more than 3,900 party loyalists were suddenly disenfranchised and had to consider who to choose as their new standard-bearer.
While they could pick whoever they wanted, signals quickly came from Democrats — including Biden — that Vice President Harris was the best choice because any opposition would likely open up more divisions in a time of crisis.
For Peters, the 36-year-old director of the LGBTQ Center, Harris is “the unifying candidate we have — the only one.”
Acknowledging concerns that delegates had rushed their decision to endorse Harris, Peters argued that given the circumstances of the shortened timeline, the safest bet was to endorse “a person who is proven and who has the support of the majority of Americans.”
“There’s no good way to do it, and the more time we spend looking at other candidates … it’s a waste of time to talk about the danger that Donald Trump poses,” he said.
More than half of the delegates have already announced their support for Harris, which does not yet make her a formal candidate, but almost all assure that she will be the party’s choice in short order.
The delegates are party activists from across the country and come from a variety of backgrounds, from clergy to teachers to local elected officials.
Like most, California’s Kevin Sabellico wants to quickly turn the page on weeks of confusion after Biden’s disastrous debate.
“We need to pick a party nominee and we need to do it quickly and we need to rally behind her and unite because the last three weeks or so of fighting and media frenzy around our nominee has not helped. It really hurt us,” Sabellico told AFP.
The 26-year veteran of political campaigns said he had worked with Harris before.
“I’ve seen her when the cameras are off, and her leadership, her mental toughness, her courage … that’s exactly what we need right now to stand up to Donald Trump and get the job done,” Sabellico said.
On Sunday night, just hours after Biden announced his withdrawal, Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Hendrell Remus said he was concerned about what might come.
“I hope we don’t see a situation where Democrats who are looking for an opportunity to push themselves try to stand up and become candidates in this race,” he told AFP.
“I think now is the time for us to get behind Kamala Harris as a candidate.
Two days later, after an outpouring of support for Harris and her record fundraising, Remus can rest easy.
How Democratic Party delegates formally nominate their candidate is to be discussed at a meeting of the party’s Rules Committee on Wednesday.
Online roll-call voting is expected sometime before Aug. 7 — ahead of the convention in Chicago, which begins Aug. 19 — because of possible legal issues in Ohio.
