WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies quickly leaped into action Sunday, spending hours calling Democratic leaders, donors and officials who may end up on the shortlist to become her running mate.
Her most ardent supporters — many of them Black women — held organizing calls Sunday night to solicit donations, recruit volunteers and pray. And major liberal donors began talking about how to reactivate party coffers that had been nearly frozen amid the uncertainty over President Joe Biden’s future.
The next weeks could be the most critical for Harris, not just to unify her party and gather the support needed to officially lock in the nomination but also to raise enough cash to power a campaign and map out a path to beating former President Donald Trump in November. It will also be a crucial moment to define herself to American voters, as her Republican opponents ramp up attacks against her.
Her first big decision could be naming a running mate. A number of names were being floated by allies, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. Allies are also vetting Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and retired Adm. William McRaven, a source said.
Harris spent more than 10 hours Sunday placing calls to over 100 party leaders, members of Congress, governors, labor leaders and leaders of advocacy and civil rights organizations, according to a source familiar with her day.
Harris also called her pastor, Amos Brown III, who, along with his wife, prayed over her. Throughout the day, Harris, wearing a hooded Howard University sweatshirt, workout sweats and sneakers, was surrounded by family members and staff at the vice president’s residence.
“She let me know that she intends to earn it and to win it,” Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said of his conversation with her on Sunday. “I took that to mean, she’s not going to take anything for granted or any constituency for granted, and she will win it. And we will work with her to make sure that is the case, not only winning the presidency, but winning the majority in the House.”
Horsford, who along with the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee endorsed Harris on Sunday, said in an interview that he was deeply moved by the possibility of Harris becoming the first Black woman to be a major party’s presidential nominee.
“It’s emotional. When she called, I didn’t even really know how to acknowledge her. Madame Vice President? Madame nominee to our party?” Horsford said. “This is a significant day because of what it means for our daughters and our sons and the next generation of leaders that will come behind them.”
Win With Black Women, a national networking and organizing group, held a call of its members Sunday night and more than 45,000 people joined. The group quickly shared a link to solicit donations from Black women for the Harris campaign. Within three hours after it was shared at around 10 p.m., organizers said more than $1.5 million had been raised via that link.
“When you put strategy with the spirit of black women to organize — the spirit of black women to collectively build community, the spirit of black women to be resilient, the spirit of black women to actually win — when you combine those two things, we have always made remarkable change in this nation,” said LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of the voting rights group Black Voters Matter. “And so if there’s anybody who actually knows how to handle a racist, misogynist criminal, it would be a capable woman who happened to be a prosecutor.”
Christopher Huntley, a strategist who has worked as a speechwriter for Harris, said he expects the Democratic convention to be a showing of unity.
“We’ve had three weeks of chaos and division,” Huntley said. “Now it’s time for us to unite, to get behind Vice President Harris, and take the case to Donald Trump.”
As Harris worked the phones on Sunday, the call list was long and included: former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, Shapiro, Beshear, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York. She also spoke with Democratic Reps. James Clyburn, of South Carolina; Jasmine Crockett, of Texas; Pramila Jayapal, of Washington; Nanette Barragán, of California; and Judy Chu of California.
In addition to shoring up her support, she also began weighing whom she would pick as a running mate.
The source added that he and others have been quietly phoning delegates over the past week to see that, if Biden were to drop out, would they support Harris as his successor. The person said 95% said they would support Harris at the top of the ticket.
In addition to organizing an operation, Harris must simultaneously hit the campaign trail running.
“She’s really well positioned to prosecute the case against MAGA — to call out exactly who they are, as really wanting to push women’s rights back into past centuries,” Tory Gavito, president of Way to Win, a national strategy hub for donors aligned with Democratic causes that endorsed Harris. “So I am excited to see what comes next.”
Democratic strategists appeared buoyed by the shift and pointed to a change in the party’s mood.
“Kamala Harris will be the next president of the United States,” said Jamal Simmons, who worked for a year as Harris’ communications director. “She’s a better candidate than he was, positioned on abortion rights with the American public, and aligned with the majority of Americans who are anti-MAGA.”
Billy Ray, a writer and film director, said Democrats can now focus on Trump — focusing on his age instead of shying from the subject.
“The campaign is now going to be about age and confidence, and we win that argument,” said Ray. “You guys (Republicans) are now the ones running the old man who can’t put sentences together.”
Ray said the response from donors he knows has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Like 95% are saying, ‘All in. Let’s go. Tell me where you want me to be. Do we go to Nevada? Do we go to Arizona? What do we do?” he said.
Doug Jones, former Democratic senator from Alabama who endorsed Harris and will be a delegate to the Democratic convention, said he sees the party unifying behind Harris.
“I’m hoping that this convention will be a celebration of Joe Biden and a celebration of a passing the torch to Kamala Harris,” Jones said.
Donna Brazile, a longtime Democratic strategist, said Harris is the “strongest candidate.”
“She is battle-tested. She knows the job, and she also knows the pressures of a national campaign. You can’t teach that,” Brazile said. “She knows how to make a case and is ready to take it to Donald Trump. And, she can lean into a fight for the country in which people who work hard can get ahead.”
Still, there could be a fight ahead — or at least a tense few days.
Ray said he did not want to see Harris simply be anointed the party’s nominee without a process. “President Biden had to go from state to state. There was an official process that took place. She hasn’t done that,” he said. “And by the way, this is good for her, not bad for her. It would be unbelievably compelling television to have a convention in which there was actual doubt.”
When asked what he thought about those calling for a mini-primary with multiple candidates competing, Horsford said: “We are not playing this game. The only person who is prepared and qualified to win this nomination to beat Donald Trump, and to become our next president is Kamala Harris, period. … There is a process within the convention and committee structure that allows her to earn it.”
