Kamala Harris secures Democratic nomination in roll call vote, kicking off official Trump v Harris race: Live

Vice President Kamala Harris has officially secured the Democratic nomination for president after having won a majority of pledged delegates to the party’s convention.

Democratic officials made the announcement on Friday after a virtual roll call. President Joe Biden dropped out of the race less than two weeks ago and endorsed Harris.

Harris said on the call that she’s “honored” to be the presumptive nominee and that “the tireless work of our delegates, our state leaders, and our staff has been pivotal to making this moment possible.”

The Democratic National Convention is set to take place in Chicago later this month.

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign raised $310m in July which more than doubles the figure that Donald Trump’s team was touting during the same period.

The huge sum was fuelled by the vice president raking in a record-breaking $81m in the first 24 hours of announcing her presidential campaign last month, followed by $200m in its first week. Figures released by Trump’s campaign team say it pulled $137m in July as the former president took to Truth Social to thank the Maga movement for their “spectacular support” on Thursday evening.

It comes just hours after the United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post- Soviet history on Thursday.