▲ Kamala Harris presented herself yesterday in Delaware as the leader who seeks to lead her country to a more promising future.Photo Ap

David Brooks and Jim Cason

Correspondents

The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, July 23, 2024, p. 25

New York and Washington., In less than 24 hours, Kamala Harris consolidated the support of the leadership, the majority of legislators and governors, while in the afternoon, the AP news agency reported that the vice president obtained the required number of delegates to her party’s national convention, making her the virtual Democratic presidential candidate in the midst of an unprecedented electoral process.

In what is by far the most unusual electoral contest in decades, with a convicted criminal candidate who was the target of an assassination attempt and his opponent withdrawing from the race nearly 100 days before the election, while the first woman born to migrants is now about to run: the father of a Jamaican father and a mother from India, the outcome cannot yet be predicted.

However, with the torrent of support, endorsements from her coreligionists and also $81 million in donations in the last 24 hours, everything indicates that Kamala Harris will arrive at the convention as the favorite and will be officially crowned the Democratic candidate for president.

In her first speech as a presidential candidate (it will not be until the national convention where her endorsement is to be formalized – if there are no more surprises –), yesterday she presented herself as the leader who seeks to lead her country to a more promising future in contrast to the dark and reactionary vision offered by the Republican magnate.

Donald Trump wants to take the country back to a time when many did not have full freedoms and rights. We believe in a brighter future that offers a place for all Americans.she told members of Biden’s campaign team in Delaware, who will now work for her. She has already announced that Biden’s two campaign managers, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Julie Chávez Rodríguez (the granddaughter of César Chávez, activist and icon of the Latino community), will remain in their positions.

He stressed that in the next 106 days before the election, “the question facing each of us is what kind of country we want to live in: one of freedom, compassion and the rule of law, or one of chaos, fear and hatred…. We have the power to answer.”

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Biden called into the event by phone, still recovering from Covid, to declare: We are in this fight together, I’m not going anywhere.

He added a message to the person who has endorsed the mission to replace him as a candidate: I’m watching you, girlAnd she answered: I love you, JoeThe country’s president has promised to deliver a live address to the nation in the coming days.

Yesterday, former House Speaker and party leadership matriarch Nancy Pelosi joined the growing list of Democratic lawmakers supporting Harris. In fact, the vice president already enjoys the explicit support of the majority of Democratic lawmakers in both chambers of Congress and all 23 Democratic governors.

The campaign also reported that $81 million in contributions had been raised in the past 24 hours, a record figure for a single day, noting that much of it came from thousands of individuals, including many who were contributing for the first time.

What’s more, she already has the committed support of the majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates required to be crowned the nominee, a situation that is traditionally formalized at the quadrennial Democratic Convention, which this year will be held from August 19 to 22 in the city of Chicago.

However, the leaders of the National Committee of the party announced yesterday that the process of selecting the candidate will be carried out online this coming August 7th – a method that seems to be an attempt to close the door to those who propose a national convention. openin which the selection of the candidate could be debated.

For now, according to analysts and other observers, a new race for the US presidency is in a sense beginning less than four months before the election scheduled for November 5.

What began as a repeat of the contest between the same two old adversaries from four years ago is now an unprecedented circumstance, especially with the first woman, daughter of migrants, to run (perhaps out of envy of Mexico).

Harris’ campaign now faces the immediate challenge of mobilizing a disenchanted base behind Biden, with a majority of Democrats saying for months that they wanted another candidate, as they did not trust the president’s physical and mental abilities.

Harris is expected to win over women, who have been prominent in her defense of women’s right to decide about their sexuality and motherhood, as well as African-American and Latino minority groups, among others.

Several groups from these sectors have already endorsed their electoral support for Harris in the last 24 hours, including the AFL-CIO labor union and African-American organizations.

At the same time, the vice president and former senator must quickly overcome the discontent, especially among young people, generated by Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s war against the Palestinians in Gaza. She is expected to continue supporting that position and has scheduled a meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu during her visit to Washington this week, although her campaign announced that the candidate will not appear in Congress, where the Israeli has been invited to give a speech before both chambers on Wednesday. Everyone – especially young people – will be watching whether the message will be modified from that reiterated by her boss, and how.

On the Republican side, it was known that Trump and his team preferred Biden to continue as a candidate and had built their strategy around that. Now they have not only a woman, but instead of an elderly figure, a politician 19 years younger than the Republican. Trump and his vice presidential candidate JD Vance have already begun to attack Harris, blaming her for the policies failed Biden on the economy and the border, but also accusing her of covered up the physical and mental deterioration of his boss.

This new contest, he points out The New York Timesnow is the first presidential contest since 1976 without a Clinton, Bush or Biden on the ticket.

However, the change of candidate may not change the dynamics of this election; that is, despite the novelties, There will be nothing new.

Some pollsters point out that Harris is not a winner against Trump in opinion polls conducted this year, and that in fact she has a high disapproval rating. For now, everything indicates that the vote will be split between an anti-immigrant Republican ex-president, who is a convicted criminal, accused by more than a dozen women of sexual abuse, an instigator of an attempted coup d’état and who to date refuses to commit to respecting the election results, against the first woman daughter of immigrants, who was a prosecutor and senator in the spectrum of her political life.