Senate top Democrat discusses Harris’ endorsement in Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The news of President Joe Biden’s departure from the 2024 Presidential Race is leaving many wondering who will take his place as the party’s nominee.

With Biden no longer in the race, delegates are heading back to the drawing board. Even with Biden throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, delegates are not required to vote for her.

“I know there’s a sense of urgency, but I also think we make better decisions when we hold back for a second and we weigh everything that’s coming in,” Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, D-Affton, said Monday. “I’m not sure what to expect and I don’t know if any of us are. I don’t know if they can say exactly how this is going to play out.”

Weeks before Missouri’s 70 delegates head to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, they need to come up with a new plan. The DNC includes nearly 4,000 delegates and in order to secure the nomination, Harris needs the support of 1,976 delegates.

Beck is one of the dozens of delegates chosen to represent Missouri. He received the news about Biden not running for re-election while door knocking for his own campaign, but now he’s refocusing his approach.

“I’m getting a lot of encouraging talk about Vice President Harris, but I still want to listen to people for a little but longer, I think this process is going a little bit faster than I thought it would,” Beck said. “That being said, I think it’s an excitement we haven’t seen in a long time in the Democratic Party.”

Beck said Harris was the original candidate he supported in the 2020 President Primary. Monday night, Beck posted on X that he is endorsing Harris to be the next President of the United States.

“I really liked her, and it was based on some of the things she did in the Senate,” Beck said. “She’s a very smart and intelligent person that I think is capable of running our country and that’s why I think Joe Biden picked her.”

While Beck said he had concerns about Biden following the debate with former President Donald Trump last month, he said he was not surprised the President stepped down from running for re-election.

Beck believes that outside the Presidential race, abortion is still the headliner of the election in Missouri

“I think people still aren’t focusing on that in November, and especially in Missouri, it’s going to be about reproductive rights and women having to be able to have the same health care decisions that I do,” Beck said.

The Missouri Democratic Party was set to hold a conference call Monday night with delegates to talk about endorsements. Beck said he was unsure if delegates would make a decision during the meeting to back Harris.

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