Two of the last Democrats holding out on endorsing Kamala Harris have jointly announced they will back the vice president as she seeks to take on Donald Trump in November.
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries have finally endorsed the presidential race following Biden’s withdrawal on Sunday.
Jeffries said in the highly anticipated announcement: “Joe Biden will go down in American history as one of the most consequential presidents of all time. President Joe Biden has made the selfless decision to pass the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, who is ready, willing and able to lead us into the future.”
Jeffries noted that he and Schumer had held off on endorsing the nominee to allow Harris to build support from below.
“Vice President Harris earned her nomination from the bottom up, not the top,” he said.
Their endorsement came after support from the Democratic rank and file. No other prominent Democrat has dared to challenge Harris and she has now garnered enough delegate support to win the nomination.
Notably, former President Barack Obama has yet to express his support for Kamala, saying vaguely that he would support the Democrats’ next “breakout candidate.”
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries have finally endorsed the presidential race following Biden’s withdrawal on Sunday.
The endorsement comes a day after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw her support behind Kamala and after the vice president secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination last night.
California’s top Democrat had been silent on whether she supported Harris following President Joe Biden’s surprise withdrawal from the race on Sunday afternoon.
The former House speaker, who is widely believed to have played a key role in lobbying the president to step down, announced her support in a statement Monday.
“Today, with immense pride and boundless optimism for the future of our country, I endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States,” he wrote.
‘My enthusiastic endorsement of Kamala Harris for president is official, personal and political.’
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday endorsed Kamala Harris for president
His endorsement comes as a wave of influential Democrats have rallied to back the vice president in the 24 hours since Biden called off his re-election bid.
The Clintons, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., Squad Leader AOC and nearly two hundred Democratic lawmakers have officially endorsed Harris for the presidential nomination.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who many believed could replace Biden, even went so far as to endorse Harris for president.
Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama has remained silent on who he wants to lead the party in November.
Other influential Democrats in Congress, including Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, have yet to announce any endorsements for the presidential race following Biden’s withdrawal.
Jeffries, however, had glowing words for Harris on Monday.
“Vice President Kamala Harris has galvanized the community, the House Democratic Caucus and the country,” Jeffries told reporters.
He added that he and Schumer have a meeting with Harris “shortly.”
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) applaud as U.S. President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, March 1, 2022.
Pelosi had reportedly been working the halls of Congress, speaking to as many powerful Democrats as possible to try to come up with a plan to get Biden to reconsider his reelection bid.
That plot appears to have worked, as the 81-year-old president announced in a statement Sunday that he would no longer seek a return to the Oval Office.
Still, Pelosi has in the past expressed reservations about Kamala Harris’s ability to lead the party.
In September 2023, when pressed on whether Harris is the best possible running mate for Biden’s re-election, she replied: “He thinks so.”
“She’s very politically astute,” Pelosi added. “I don’t think people give her enough credit.”
The response was clearly not an endorsement at the time, but much has changed since Biden announced his re-election in April of that year.