Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign further ramped up Friday as she earned the delegates’ votes to officially lock down the Democratic Party’s nomination—and brought on President Obama’s 2008 campaign manager in a key role.
Harris needed to lock down 2,350 votes to secure the nomination during a virtual roll call that began Thursday. The votes needed to cross that threshold came in just after 1 p.m. on Friday.
“I’m 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,” Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said in a live video.
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Harris herself called into the video to share her excitement.
“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,” she said.
That wasn’t the only good news Harris got on Friday. She has also brought on Obama strategist David Plouffe as a senior adviser, The Washington Post reported, among a number of veterans from the former president’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
Stephanie Cutter, a former Obama campaign aide who is a veteran Democratic convention guru and produced Joe Biden’s 2020 inauguration, will join the Harris campaign as a senior strategic adviser. Also joining, according to the Post, are Obama campaign veteran Mitch Stewart as senior battleground states adviser and former Harris aide David Binder, who led Obama’s public opinion research operation and will do the same for Harris.
The delegates’ decision was hardly a shock. After President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris last month, her party consolidated around her in a matter of days. Nearly all of her potential rivals endorsed her within 24 hours, and she was the only candidate to qualify for the roll call.
