Key events
The latest figures from the Associated Press show Harris with more than 2,500 delegates, well over the 1,976 needed to win a vote in the coming weeks.
Delegates could still, technically, change their minds but nobody else received any votes in the AP survey and only 54 delegates said they were undecided.
Harris offered a sense of how she plans to attack Trump on Monday, 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 who was found liable for sexual assault in civil court.
Other courts have found fraud was committed in his business, charitable foundation and private university.
Wisconsin is among a trio of Rust-Belt states that include Michigan and Pennsylvania widely considered as must-wins for any candidate, and where Biden was lagging Trump.
Harris to deliver first campaign event since announcing candidacy on Tuesday
Harris will campaign in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin on Tuesday for the first time as a presidential candidate.
The event in Milwaukee will be her first full-fledged campaign event since announcing her candidacy. Last week, Milwaukee was host to Trump, JD Vance and the RNC.
The Wisconsin trip offers another opportunity for the 59-year-old former California prosecutor to reset the Democrats’ campaign and make the case that she is best positioned to beat Trump. Harris is scheduled to deliver remarks at a political event in Milwaukee at 1.05pm CDT (6.05pm GMT).
Meanwhile Biden plans to return to the White House on Tuesday afternoon, though has no public events scheduled.
He has aid that he will address the nation later this week.
President Joe Biden’s “symptoms have almost resolved completely” from Covid, according to his physician, as the president on Monday remained out of public view for the fifth straight day.
Biden called into the Wilmington, Delaware, headquarters of his former campaign during a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris, whose bid for the White House has been endorsed by Biden. The president sought to pep up the staff, urging them to give “every bit” of their “heart and soul” to Harris. Biden also vowed to be “out on the road” campaigning for his vice president.
“If I didn’t have Covid, I’d be standing there with you,” said Biden, whose voice sounded a gravelly, according to AP.
Harris statement on becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee
Late on Monday night, less than 36 hours after Joe Biden announced that he was stepping aside, the Harris campaign has released a statement confirming that she has received the support needed to become the Democratic party’s nominee (though a reminder, has not yet been nominated) and that she looks forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.
Here is the full statement:
When I announced my campaign for President, I said I intended to go out and earn this nomination. Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top. I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.
I am grateful to President Biden and everyone in the Democratic Party who has already put their faith in me, and I look forward to taking our case directly to the American people.
This election will present a clear choice between two different visions. Donald Trump wants to take our country back to a time before many of us had full freedoms and equal rights. I believe in a future that strengthens our democracy, protects reproductive freedom and ensures every person has the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead.
Over the next few months, I will be traveling across the country talking to Americans about everything that is on the line. I fully intend to unite our party, unite our nation, and defeat Donald Trump in November.”
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the 2024 US election with me, Helen Sullivan.
Kamala Harris confirmed late on Monday night that she had received the support needed to become the Democratic party’s nominee, and said that she looks forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.
Less than 36 hours after Biden announced that he was stepping aside, Harris earned enough delegates to become the likely Democratic party nominee, after California delegates voted unanimously to endorse her.
She also broke fundraising records, with $81m raised in 24 hours – $15m short of what Biden has raised over months of his campaign so far.
Nancy Pelosi made the motion to endorse Harris for president at a virtual meeting of California’s DNC delegation on Monday evening, a spokesperson confirmed, and delegates voted unanimously for Harris.
By Monday night, Harris had the support of at least 2,471 delegates, according to an AP tally of delegates, more than the 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot. No other candidate was named by a delegate contacted by the AP.
Delegates could still change their minds before 7 August, but nobody else received any votes in the AP survey, for example, and just 57 delegates said they were undecided.
Here are the other key recent developments:
-
In a speech to campaign staffers on Monday, Harris said that building up the middle class would be a defining goal of my presidency’. She will work to build a country “where every person has affordable healthcare, where every worker is paid fairly, and where every senior can retire with dignity,” she said. “All of this is to say, building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she said.
-
She also spoke about abortion, attacked Trump’s economic policies, and appeared to choose a campaign song: Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’. Speaking to campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris turned to Donald Trump’s economic and social welfare policies, saying, “We are not going back”. Trump would put Social Security and Medicare “on the chopping block”, she said, turning healthcare into something that was only for the wealthy.
-
America’s freedom was fought for by its founders, framers, abolitionists, suffragettes, freedom riders, farm workers, she said. “And now I say, team, the baton is in our hands. We, who believe in the sacred freedom to vote. We who are committed to fight to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence. And that’s why we will work to pass universal background checks, red flag laws and an assault weapons ban.”
-
Harris’ campaign aims to wrap up her presidential nomination by Wednesday and secure a majority of the nearly 4,000 convention delegates needed to win, Reuters reports, citing four unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
-
A survey by the Associated Press has found that Harris has the support of more than half of the delegates she’ll need to take President Biden’s place at the top of the Democratic ticket. Over 1,000 pledged delegates told The Associated Press or announced that they plan to support Harris in a forthcoming vote to pick a new White House nominee.
-
Biden will return to the White House on Tuesday and is expected to address the nation later this week. President Joe Biden’s “symptoms have almost resolved completely” from Covid-19, according to his physician, as the president on Monday remained out of public view for the fifth straight day.
-
The leader of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee will preside over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Wednesday, Senate aides have told Reuters, as Harris will be traveling outside Washington.
-
Bernie Sanders has still refrained from endorsing Harris, though he said he thinks she will be the nominee, and stands a chance of winning the election with a big vote.
-
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison said on Monday the Democratic party will deliver a presidential nominee by 7 August and is committed to an “open and fair” nominating process.
