RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN/AP) — The Democratic delegation of North Carolina has decided to back Vice President Kamala Harris for the party nomination at next month’s national convention following President Joe Biden’s announcement earlier Sunday to drop out of his re-election campaign.
Biden’s decision came on the heels of a poor debate performance that prompted many rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers to urge him to withdraw from the race. The president said he will address the nation later this week “in more detail about my decision.”
Biden threw his support behind Harris to be the Democrats’ new candidate, and she vowed to “earn and win” the nomination.
NC Gov. Cooper remains on short list of potential Harris running mates, reports say Harris spoke multiple times with Biden on Sunday, according to people familiar with the conversations – a day after Biden huddled with his closest aides in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as he began to conclude that he would end his reelection bid.
About two hours after the surprise Sunday announcement from Biden, Harris released her own statement, making it clear she knew the nomination would not just be handed to her.
But by 8:30 p.m. Sunday Harris had secured the endorsement of the North Carolina delegation to the Democratic National Convention.
Pelosi delivers speech to NC Democrats with notable absence — Biden’s future as nominee The group released a statement that said Harris was their unanimous choice after they held “an emergency meeting.”
“Tonight, all 168 delegates of the North Carolina Democratic Party made history,” North Carolina party chair Anderson Clayton said in a post on the social platform X.
The announcement came just a day after North Carolina Democrats held their Unity Dinner fundraiser in Raleigh — amid signs the party was not united over keeping Joe Biden as their presidential nominee.
“Tonight, our North Carolina Democratic DNC delegation held an emergency meeting and we discussed how to best chart a path forward,” Clayton said in a news release.
“It will be experience going up against extremism. We know that with the infrastructure and the organizing powerhouse we have spent years building, North Carolina will send VP Harris to the Oval Office,” Clayton added in part of the news release.
Trump leads Biden nationally, in NC, and in 6 other swing states: Poll In South Carolina, party chair Christale Spain said in an email statement Sunday night that that state’s delegation met virtually. The vice president “has been fully vetted, and she has earned our unwavering support,” Spain said.
Harris received her first delegates earlier in the day from Tennessee, when the state party posted on X that its delegation voted during a meeting to back her.
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