Harris secures delegates needed for nomination

WASHINGTON — US Vice-President Kamala Harris appeared poised to clinch her party's presidential nomination after receiving support from enough Democratic delegates on Monday, as she launched a campaign against Donald Trump.

The formal nomination process for a US presidential candidate occurs when delegates from across the United States gather to officially anoint a nominee chosen by voters during the primaries.

But when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, the fate of those delegates, who had been slated to vote for him, came into question.

With the support of a slew of Democratic heavyweights, including Biden himself, and massive voter donations, Harris quickly closed in as the Democratic Party's heir apparent and delegates began falling in line to pledge their support.

"Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party's nominee," Harris wrote in a statement, after US media reported she had sailed past the number of delegates needed — 1,976 out of nearly 4,000 — in order to decisively secure the Democratic presidential nomination during voting in the coming weeks.

At the campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday, she offered a sense of how she plans to take on Trump, referring to her past of pursuing "predators" and "fraudsters" as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

"So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type," she said of her rival, a convicted felon.

"We are going to win in November," Harris told the workers.

Biden, 81, meanwhile made his first public remarks in nearly a week as he recovered from a bout of COVID-19.

He called in to the campaign meeting to say that dropping out had been the "right thing to do" and he praised Harris as "the best".

Donors have also rallied behind Harris, pouring a record $81 million into her campaign in the 24 hours after Biden stood aside. The campaign claimed the haul was the largest one-day sum in presidential history.

Slumping polls

Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris after three weeks of intensifying pressure, triggered by a disastrous debate performance against Trump.

The move has jolted a demoralized party that Harris could now unify, but whether she can turn around slumping polls in key states remains an open question.

In interviews with half-dozen leading Democrats in Wisconsin, they said Harris offers the party the opportunity to push the reset button and animate voters who were unenthused about Biden and Trump.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said Harris, the first black American and first South Asian American to be elected vice-president, will also help bring back crucial black voters.

"Many of them didn't come along because they were distracted by (Biden's) age, distracted by his appearance," Crowley said.

Trump launched a series of invective-filled social media posts after Biden quit, mocking the president's age and saying he and Harris posed a "threat to democracy".

His running mate J.D. Vance echoed that line of attack at a rally in Ohio on Monday, telling supporters that Harris had the momentum because "elite Democrats got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard".

"That is not how it works. That is a threat to democracy," he said.

Trump and his allies have also tried to keep Harris tethered to some of Biden's more unpopular policies, such as immigration.

"Kamala Harris' dismal record is one of complete failure and utter incompetence," Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said. "Her policies are Biden's policies, and vice versa."

At another campaign rally in Virginia later on Monday, Vance continued to throw fresh barbs at Harris.

"History will remember Joe Biden as not just a quitter, which he is, but as one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States of America," he said.

"But my friends, Kamala Harris is a million times worse and everybody knows it. She signed up for every single one of Joe Biden's failures, and she lied about his mental capacity to serve as president."

Agencies via Xinhua