WASHINGTON — In the hours after President Joe Biden on Sunday announced he would end his re-election bid, elected Democrats swiftly coalesced around his vice president. By Monday afternoon, nearly all Washington Democrats holding federal or statewide office had endorsed Kamala Harris as their party's nominee for president.
After weeks of mounting pressure on Biden from his own party to withdraw from the race in the wake of a disastrous debate performance that laid bare longstanding concerns about his age, the flood of endorsements for Harris appeared cathartic for Democrats who could suddenly turn their focus to the future. Donors seemed to share their enthusiasm, as the newly Harris-led campaign reported raising more money in the first 24 hours of her candidacy — $81 million — than Biden had raised in the first three months of the year. It's the most money raised in a single day in the 2024 campaign and the Harris campaign claimed it was the single-day record in U.S. history.
Sen. Patty Murray, a powerful member of congressional leadership, pledged to "do everything I can to help elect Kamala Harris as our next President" and called the vice president "exactly the woman we need to prosecute the case against Donald Trump, save American democracy, lead the fight to restore abortion rights, and build an economy that puts working people — not billionaires — first."
Sen. Maria Cantwell posted a photo on X of her friend's young daughter watching Harris taking the oath of office as the first woman to serve as U.S. vice president, with the caption, "In it to win it."
"Kamala Harris is a fierce advocate for working-class Americans, for reproductive rights, for investing in our nation and every citizen," Cantwell wrote on the social media platform. "The contrast between her and Donald Trump couldn't be more clear and consequential on our environment, our fiscal health, and our democracy."
Rep. Adam Smith of Bellevue, one of the first and most vocal congressional Democrats to call for Biden to leave the race, endorsed Harris less than an hour after Biden announced his decision. Smith cited Harris's experience as a prosecutor, California attorney general, senator and vice president and said he had witnessed her leadership at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of world leaders in Germany where Harris spoke in each of the last three years.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and state Sen. Mark Mullet, the top Democrats running for governor, both endorsed Harris on Sunday.
Ferguson said in a statement that he was "excited that Democrats can now rally behind" Harris, who he said "can unify our party and country." At the Republican National Convention that began a week earlier, GOP speakers also claimed that the nation would unite behind their nominee, former President Donald Trump.
"She is a prosecutor who has put away criminals," Ferguson said, repeating a common Democratic line of attack against Trump, whom a jury found guilty in May of felony charges related to hush-money payments to influence the 2016 election. "She's exactly the fighter we need to take on a convicted felon in November and win, and I am proud to offer her my endorsement and support."
Gov. Jay Inslee, the man Ferguson is running to succeed, and every other Democratic governor in the country had endorsed Harris by Monday. A handful of those governors are considered likely running mates for Harris, including Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Roy Cooper of North Carolina.
The only Democratic member of Washington's congressional delegation who had not endorsed Harris as of Monday was Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a centrist who represents a district won by former President Donald Trump in 2020. The first-term congresswoman from southwest Washington had gone farther than other Democrats in criticizing Biden, calling for the president not to drop out of the race but to resign from office.
Democrats like Gluesenkamp Perez who face tough re-election races have been among the quickest to distance themselves from Biden, fearing that the president's unpopularity would hurt their own chances to win over skeptical voters. Rep. Suzan DelBene of Medina, who leads House Democrats' campaign arm, said in a statement endorsing Harris, "Elections are about choices, and the choice before voters could not be clearer."
Rep. Kim Schrier, another so-called Democratic "frontliner" in a competitive district that stretches from Wenatchee to the Seattle suburbs, said in a statement, "Uniting our party in support of Kamala Harris for president is the best way to make sure Donald Trump never sets foot in the White House again."
Rep. Rick Larsen of Everett, who was among Biden's most vocal defenders as other Democrats called for a new standard bearer, endorsed Harris in a post on X that juxtaposed Democrats' accomplishments under Biden with Trump's conviction in New York City and GOP positions on abortion and health care. "I like our odds," Larsen concluded.
Since it became clear that Trump would win his party's nomination for the third straight time — despite having lost the 2020 election and fomenting a riot at the Capitol by his supporters when he didn't accept that reality — Democrats have argued that democracy itself is at stake in the 2024 race. That position made Biden's insistence on running again increasingly untenable as polls showed Trump on track to win decisive swing states.
"The stakes of this election could not be higher," Rep. Derek Kilmer of Gig Harbor said in a statement. "I believe Vice President Harris can — and must — win at the ballot box in November."
In their endorsements of Harris, Democrats have continued to praise Biden's record and his decision to eventually leave the race. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Seattle, who leads nearly half of House Democrats as chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Biden "has been the most progressive and effective President on domestic and economic policy in my lifetime."
"Vice President Harris has proven time and time again that she can prosecute the case against Donald Trump and campaign vigorously for Democrats down the ballot," Jayapal said in a statement. "She will mobilize and energize our base to re-engage and ensure that we turn out every single voter across the country and deliver victory in November."
Some Democrats and donors to the party have called for an open convention, suggesting that a different candidate may fare better against Trump. But by Monday evening, virtually every prominent Democrat whose name had been floated as a potential alternative to Harris had endorsed her.
Harris, whose parents immigrated to the United States from India and Jamaica, would be not only the nation's first female president but also its first commander-in-chief of Asian and Afro-Caribbean origin. Rep. Marilyn Strickland of Tacoma, who is the first Black and Korean lawmaker to represent Washington in Congress, endorsed Harris in a brief statement that called her "the most qualified" to succeed Biden as president.
Officially selecting the party's nominee for president won't happen until a roll call vote of the roughly 4,000 delegates chosen through primaries and caucuses earlier this year. That could take place before or during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which begins Aug. 19.
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