US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two as she departs for Houston, Texas, from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Wednesday. (AFP-Yonhap)
WASHINGTON --US Vice President Kamala Harris has officially earned the necessary number of delegate votes in a virtual voting process to become the Democratic Party's standard-bearer for the Nov. 5 presidential election, the party's national committee chief said Friday.
Just a day after online voting kicked off, Harris, the only party candidate, received more than a majority of votes from delegates to become the nation's first woman-of-color presidential nominee as she has been cranking up a powerful campaign in a tight race against former President and Republican flag-bearer Donald Trump.
Harris launched her campaign after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month amid dogged questions over his old age following a woeful debate performance in June. Her campaign has since created much enthusiasm among once-demoralized Democrats, seen a substantial fundraising haul and reshaped a race viewed as more favorable to Trump.
"I am so proud to confirm that Vice President Harris has earned more than a majority of votes from all convention delegates and will be the nominee of Democratic Party following the close of voting on Monday," Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement.
Before the online vote started, the DNC said that 3,923 delegates -- or 99 percent of the participants -- had petitioned to put Harris on the nomination ballot. She ran unopposed in the intraparty battle as no Democrat met the threshold of obtaining at least 300 delegate signatures by Tuesday to be on the ballot.
A candidate is required to secure 1,976 delegate votes to clinch the Democratic nomination. Should Harris beat Trump in the November election, she would become America's first woman president.
After passing the delegate threshold, Harris said she was "honored" to be at the top of the ticket.
"I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I will officially accept the nomination next week," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "This campaign is about people coming together, fueled by love of country, to fight for the best of who we are."
The virtual roll call vote is set to conclude on Monday. It was arranged ahead of the Democratic National Convention set for Aug. 19-22, because of Ohio's Aug. 7 deadline for parties to submit the names of their candidates.
South Korean policymakers have been closely watching the US election race as policy changes could take place depending on who occupies the White House.
If elected, Harris is expected to continue key tenets of the Biden administration's foreign policy, including strengthening a network of alliances and partnerships to confront shared regional and global challenges, though she could put her own style in policy formulation and implementation processes.
As Harris's campaign has gobbled up media attention, Trump's campaign has sharpened attacks on Harris in a neck-and-neck race that has drawn a sharp contrast between the two starkly different candidates in light of age, race, ethnicity and gender. Harris, currently 59, was born to a family of Jamaican- and Indian-born parents.
During a major gathering of Black journalists earlier this week, Trump made remarks about Harris' racial identity, saying, "Is she Indian? or is she black?." Harris dismissed them as "the same old show" of "divisiveness" and "disrespect."
The contest between Harris and Trump has given rise to the "prosecutor vs. the felon" narrative in reference to Harris' former service as the attorney general of California and Trump's conviction in a high-profile hush-money trial.
As the competition is heating up, Harris is expected to walk a fine line to highlight the Biden administration's major achievements, such as reducing certain prescription drug costs and bolstering America's alliance networks, while guarding against attacks on the administration's perceived shortfalls.
She also faces the question of how to keep maintaining forward momentum beyond what many have called a "honeymoon phase" following the launch of her campaign, and how to cement and broaden her appeal, particularly in the battleground states -- Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- that would largely determine the outcome of the general election.
Harris is expected to announce her pick for vice president next week before she begins her swing through seven battleground states, which includes a stop in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Among those mentioned for the post are Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Harris was sworn in as vice president in January 2021, making history as the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be in that post.
She was inaugurated as a senator of California in 2017 and previously served as the attorney general of California and district attorney of San Francisco.
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