Kamala Harris secures Democratic nomination, makes her campaign about “promise of America”

Vice-President of the United States Kamala Harris, who is of Indian and African heritage, was declared the 2024 presidential nominee of the ruling Democratic Party on Friday, after she won enough votes from Democratic delegates in a virtual roll call.

Harris, 59, would face Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump, 78, in the general elections scheduled to be held on November 5.

“I am honoured to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I will officially accept the nomination next week. This campaign is about people coming together, fuelled by love of [the] country, to fight for the best of who we are,” said Harris, who was abruptly thrust into the role of presidential candidate late last month after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race for the White House.

A step away from breaking the last glass ceiling of the United States, Harris became the first ever woman of colour to be on the top of a presidential ticket of a major American political party.

She is also the first ever Indian American to be nominated as presidential candidate of either the Republican or the Democratic party.

“I am so proud to confirm that Vice-President Harris has earned more than a majority of votes from all convention delegates and will be the nominee of the Democratic Party following the close of voting,” said Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison, after the end of a virtual roll call of votes from the elected delegates across the country.

Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was Indian and her father, Donald Jasper Harris, is Jamaican; both immigrated to the US.

The VP will be officially accepting the nomination once the virtual voting period is closed next week. She will ceremonially accept it at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 22. Over the next few days, she is likely to announce her running mate.

We love our country. We believe in the promise of America, and that’s what this campaign is about. Of course, I will officially accept your nomination next week, once the virtual voting period is closed. But already I’m happy to know that we have enough delegates to secure the nomination.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris

“Later this month, we will gather in Chicago, united as one party, where we’re going to have an opportunity to celebrate this historic moment together,” Harris said in a phone call with the delegates soon after she secured the numbers to win the nomination.

This presidential campaign, she said, was “about all of us coming together, people coming together from every walk of life, every lived experience, and being renewed by our love of country, knowing that we are prepared to fight for the best of who we are”.

“The beauty of our democracy is [that] each [and] every one of us has the power to answer that question, and that is why I say and know the power is with the people,” she said.

Harris said, “We are going to win this election, and it is going to take all of us, whether it is making calls, connecting with our communities, engaging online, or even talking with people where we go every day, whether it be to the grocery store, our church, we are going to talk together.”