President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to be the new Democratic nominee gives Ms. Harris, already the first woman, and woman of color, to be vice president, another opportunity to make history.
In a letter announcing his withdrawal, Mr. Biden offered his thanks to Ms. Harris “for being an extraordinary partner in all this work.” He endorsed her in a separate post on social media that included a photo of the two of them on the White House grounds.
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made,” he wrote in the post.
Before she was chosen as his running mate, Ms. Harris had clashed with Mr. Biden during her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign. Mr. Biden vowed during that race to pick a woman as his vice-presidential candidate, as well as someone with experience and who would be “compatible with me, both in terms of personality as well as substance,” he said. Earlier in her career, Ms. Harris had served as a senator representing California and the state’s attorney general.
The news of Ms. Harris’s potential candidacy electrified the network of organizations and members who have pushed for increasing the ranks of women in politics and have prepared to support her. Ms. Harris, they said, had substantial leadership experience and offered to be a powerful voice at a time when democracy and women’s rights are under assault.
“This is a historic opportunity that has the potential for exciting and mobilizing young voters in a way we haven’t seen in a long time,” said Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet, which focuses on educating voters about digital disinformation. “It would be hard to overstate how meaningful it is in a year when the Republicans are coming for women.”
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