The US Democrats are making progress in nominating Kamala Harris as their presidential candidate. The Democratic Party announced that a virtual vote would begin this Thursday and run until next Monday. The US Vice President was the only candidate to qualify for this virtual candidate selection. This means that the 59-year-old will be confirmed as the front woman before the big Democratic Party convention in Chicago in mid-August. The meeting there will then be more of a ceremonial nature.
When US President Joe Biden withdrew from the current election campaign, he proposed his deputy as a replacement candidate for the election in early November. The Democrats had actually wanted to officially choose their presidential candidate at the party convention in Chicago from August 19 to 22. With Biden’s withdrawal, the cards are now being reshuffled.
However, even before Biden’s withdrawal, the party leadership had already made plans to bring forward the candidate selection and to conduct it digitally. This has to do with the deadlines in the states by which the parties must have confirmed their candidates in order to be on the ballot.
The party is particularly concerned about the state of Ohio. There, the deadline would have expired before the start of the party convention in Chicago. However, Ohio eventually passed a law that extends the deadline until after the party convention. The Democrats argue, however, that leading Republicans in Ohio could challenge this and that the Democratic candidate must therefore be nominated before the party convention.
Harris has not yet announced who she wants to bring to her side as her vice presidential candidate. Possible candidates include governors from various states such as Josh Shapiro and Andy Beshear, but also Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The Democrat wants to name her vice president in the next few days and then tour with this person through particularly contested states, so-called swing states, next week. CNN reported, citing people close to Harris, that she is planning a first joint campaign event with her vice president in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
