Playbook: The Kamala Harris juggernaut
INSIDE THE HARRIS BLITZ — In a matter of hours yesterday, VP KAMALA HARRIS garnered endorsements of a majority of House Democrats (153 as of this morning), most Senate Democrats (32), and twelve of the nation’s 23 Democratic governors. Two key unions — SEIU and AFT — are on board, and four state delegations to the Chicago convention (New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) have voted to back her.
The widespread and immediate outpouring of support, which will continue to trickle in today, is a testament to the Democratic Party’s eagerness to move on from the last 25 days of infighting, as well as Harris’s own underrated skills as a backroom coalition builder.
She put those chops to work yesterday: Harris had multiple phone conversations with President JOE BIDEN before he announced at 1:46 p.m. that he was stepping aside. Then she got busy.
Harris spent the rest of Sunday at home with family and staff in the vice president’s mansion in her Howard University hoodie and sweats grinding through calls to over 100 Democratic leaders over the course of 10 hours. The speedy, unglamorous work seems to have scared most of the potential challengers out of the race. We’re told she dined on pizza with anchovies for dinner.
Meanwhile, what is now the Harris for President campaign took in $49.6 million in grassroots donations since yesterday’s announcement, according to campaign spokesperson LAUREN HITT. That includes the proceeds from ActBlue’s biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2024/07/22/the-kamala-harris-juggernaut-00170254
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