Harris’ rise to the top of the candidates has had an immediate financial impact, with the campaign announcing that it had raised a record $100 million from more than 1 million individual donors in just 24 hours. The campaign also announced that it had changed its operating name to “Harris for President” and recruited 58,000 new volunteers, even as staffers continued to use Joe Biden’s email addresses.
“While the top of the slate has changed, the mission has not changed at all,” Biden said by phone Monday night during an all-staff meeting in Wilmington, Delaware, before Harris spoke. “Trump remains a danger to our communities. He remains a danger to our nation.”
Biden’s endorsement of his vice president was quickly followed by other leading Democrats considering a White House run, paving the way for him to secure the nomination next month rather than a hectic and chaotic mini-primary at the party’s national convention. By late Monday, Biden had secured the number of delegate votes needed to secure the nomination, according to an Associated Press survey of delegates.
Her advantage was further boosted Tuesday by the backing of the top two congressional Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. “We are filled with excitement and enthusiasm and unity,” Mr. Schumer said.
Harris told campaign staff in Wilmington about her lawsuit against Trump, saying that as a former prosecutor who served as San Francisco district attorney and then California attorney general, she had “fought criminals of all kinds” including “predators who abuse women, con artists who deceive consumers and fraudsters who break the rules for their own personal gain.”
“Listen, I know what Donald Trump is like,” she said to cheers, noting that the former president has continued to fight numerous criminal charges and was convicted of 34 felony counts in a hush money trial in New York. “In this race, I proudly put my record against Trump.”
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, said it would attack Harris by tying her to Biden’s record on core issues like inflation, crime and immigration. The campaign also said it would push to expand battleground states, announcing a rally on Saturday with Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), in Minnesota, a state that has voted Democrat for president since 1972.
President Trump held a conference call with reporters on Tuesday as a counter-plan for Harris’ first event, and sharply criticized Harris’ role in overseeing the administration’s response to the surge in illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border.
Trump has been fretting about the sudden upset of the race, and in a series of social media posts on Monday he complained that Republicans were already throwing money at Biden, attacked him as much as he attacked Harris, complained about Democratic guests on Fox News and denied that he ever considered JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon for a Cabinet post, as he implied in a June interview.
Vance held solo rallies in Ohio and Virginia on Monday, accusing Biden of being “cowardly” and Harris of being “a million times worse” for the role she has played in his administration.
Speaking near Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention was held this month, Harris planned to highlight the plans outlined in Project 2025, the blueprint for a conservative second term for president that Trump has tried to negate. She will also highlight Trump’s support for repealing the amendment. Roe v. Wade Constitutional abortion rights, proposed tax cuts that would primarily benefit wealthy Americans, and Here’s what Democrats think about the impact President Trump and the Republicans will have on Social Security and Medicare:
A crowd packed into a suburban high school gym ahead of Harris’ appearance Tuesday afternoon, some holding signs that read, “YES WE KAM!,” as she appeared to thunderous applause and an equally raucous introduction by Gov. Tony Evers.
“On the Tony Evers excitement scale, from ‘seriously’ to ‘of course,’ I’m very excited to welcome the next presidential candidate to Wisconsin,” he said.
Ms Harris spoke for about 20 minutes, and when she mentioned the former president, chants of “Lock him up!” rang out across the gymnasium, reminiscent of chants heard for years at Mr Trump events when he spoke about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“The road to the White House runs through Wisconsin,” Harris said. “We’re counting on you here in Milwaukee to help us win in Wisconsin. You helped us win in 2020, and you will win again in 2024.”
Many who gathered to hear her speak praised Biden’s decision to step aside and said they believed she would be a stronger candidate to challenge Trump.
“I think he did what was best for everybody, and she’s great,” said Tammy Calnon, 50, a project manager from Sussex, Wisconsin, who supported Harris’ campaign in the 2020 primary and hopes she can do a better job of explaining the differences between Democrats and Trump than Biden.
For women and women of color in attendance, the candidate’s sudden elevation was especially meaningful. Sukanya Misra, a 39-year-old writer from Milwaukee, was thrilled about her own promotion: “I never thought a woman of Indian descent would be a leading candidate for the highest office in America. It’s emotional to even think about it.”
But some women expressed concern about the sexism and racism Ms Harris would face.
“Republicans are going to shift their attacks from ageism to sexism and racism, but I think she’s mentally tough and can handle that,” said Ann Matthews, 56, a physician assistant from Menomonee Falls, pointing out certain aspects of Harris’s record. “I like that she’s a former prosecutor, she’s prosecuted sex offenders, and she’ll be taking on convicted sex offenders. I think we need a new face, and I like her energy and everything about her.”
Trump won Wisconsin in 2016 but Biden flipped the state back to the Democrats in 2020, and campaign leaders have argued that wins in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan offer the clearest path to victory in the Electoral College this fall.
But recent polls have the president trailing Trump here. An AARP poll conducted this month put Biden 6 points behind Trump in a five-candidate race that included third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein. A Times/Say24 poll released last week put Biden 5 points behind in the state in a five-candidate race.
Few polls have been conducted in Wisconsin since Harris became the presidential front-runner, but a CBS News poll released Monday found that 45% of registered Democratic voters believe the state would have a better chance of challenging Trump without Biden, and 83% support Biden’s decision to step aside.
“People are so excited,” said a Democratic strategist in Wisconsin, who spoke freely on the condition of anonymity to describe the change in mood since Biden’s announcement. What was once somber is now energized. “The mood three days ago was awful. The mood yesterday was amazing.”
Michael Scherer and Amy B Wang contributed to this report.
