Washington: US Vice President Kamala Harris launched her campaign on Monday with a blistering personal attack on Donald Trump, vowing to win in November despite the “roller coaster” of President Joe Biden’s shock exit.
As she nears the Democratic Party nomination with the support of many heavyweights and massive donations from voters, Harris lashed out at Trump in her first speech to campaign workers since Biden’s announcement on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Biden, 81, made his first public remarks in nearly a week while recovering from a bout with Covid.
He called a campaign meeting to say that dropping out — after growing party and voter concerns about his health and mental acuity — was “the right thing to do” and praised Harris as “the best.”
She said she went to the Wilmington office to reach out to them in person after the “roller coaster” of the past few days.
Turning her fire on Trump, Harris referenced her past role as California’s top prosecutor, saying she “took on criminals of all kinds.”
“Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Fraudsters who broke the rules for their own benefit. So listen to me when I say I know the type of Donald Trump,” she said to applause.
Harris also pledged to focus on the politically explosive issue of abortion after Trump praised the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn a long-held federal right to the procedure.
Biden stepped down and endorsed Harris on Sunday after three weeks of mounting pressure, sparked by a disastrous debate performance against Trump.
Aiming to become the first female president in US history, Harris, 59, has won the support of a seemingly unassailable number of Democrats.
Notably among them was the powerful former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who said she endorsed Harris “with immense pride and boundless optimism.”
The main union federation, the AFL-CIO, also formally endorsed it on Monday.
Donors rallied behind Harris, pouring a record $81 million into her campaign in the 24 hours after Biden stood aside.
The campaign claimed it was the largest single-day amount in presidential history — and that of the 888,000 local donors, roughly 60 percent made their first contribution in 2024.
In his comments, Biden pledged to continue working on key issues, including ending the war in Gaza.
Addressing Harris, he added: “Following you boy. Love you.”
A Harris aide later said she would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week during his visit to Washington — separate from Biden’s own scheduled session.
Harris will not attend Netanyahu’s address to Congress, an aide said, due to a previously scheduled event.
In a strikingly symbolic moment Monday morning, Harris hosted a ceremony for college athletes at the White House while Biden remained stuck in isolation with Covid at his beach house in Delaware.
Biden’s symptoms are “almost completely gone,” his doctor said Monday, though the White House has yet to announce any events on his schedule this week.
Biden’s stunning withdrawal completely upended the 2024 race, turning a long tug-of-war between two unpopular older men into one of the most compelling races in modern US history.
The move shook up a demoralized party that Harris could now unite and give America its first female president.
It also hit Republicans hard as former President Trump, 78 — now the oldest presidential candidate in US history — had to completely overhaul a strategy that was built around attacking Biden because of his age and physical infirmity.
Harris’ entry not only turns the age question on its head, but pits Trump — a convicted felon who was also found guilty of sexual assault — against a woman and former accuser.
And Trump seems to be having a hard time moving on from Biden.
Trump’s fellow candidate J.D. Vance repeated that line of attack at a rally in Ohio on Monday, telling supporters that Harris had the momentum because “elite Democrats got into a smoky room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard.”
“That’s not how it works. That’s a threat to democracy,” he said.
