Nancy Pelosi backs Kamala Harris as Democratic grandees fall into line

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Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave her ringing endorsement to Kamala Harris on Monday, as the vice-president secured donors and delegates to bring her closer to locking up her party’s nomination for the White House.

Pelosi, a longtime Democratic leader who was seen as instrumental in the behind-the-scenes campaign to push Biden to step aside, said she endorsed Harris’s bid “with immense pride and limitless optimism for our country’s future”. She added her support for Harris was “official, personal and political”.

The former speaker became the latest high-profile Democrat to throw her weight behind Harris’s run for the White House, as endorsements and money poured in for the vice-president’s candidacy. Biden endorsed Harris shortly after announcing his own decision to step aside on Sunday.

Barack Obama, the former president, remains one of the few party leaders who has yet to endorse Harris. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, also stopped short of endorsing her on Monday, saying she was “off to a great start” and that they looked “forward” to meeting the vice-president “in person . . . shortly”.

Three leading governors previously considered possible contenders to replace Biden — Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Andy Beshear of Kentucky — all backed Harris on Monday. Bill and Hillary Clinton, California governor Gavin Newsom and other party grandees had announced their support earlier.

In a post on X, Harris said she was marking the “first full day of our campaign” by travelling to Biden headquarters in Delaware. She also used a previously scheduled appearance at the White House to fete Biden’s “legacy of accomplishment” as president, describing it as “unmatched in modern history”.

Harris’s campaign has taken over the infrastructure and apparatus of the former Biden campaign, boosting her firepower for the election run. On Monday her campaign said it had raised $81mn in its first 24 hours — more than the president raised in the first two months of his.

Harris also clinched endorsements from Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, and Dick Durbin, the Illinois senator and second highest-ranking Democrat in the upper chamber of Congress.

The steady stream of support from top Democrats could help the party avoid the potential chaos of an “open convention”, when delegates meet in Chicago next month to officially pick their presidential candidate.

The Associated Press on Monday calculated Harris had gained the backing of more than half of the delegates she needs to win the Democratic nomination after more than 1,200 of the people eligible to vote at the Democratic National Convention said they would support her.

Joe Manchin, the centrist senator from West Virginia, briefly flirted with the idea of challenging Harris before telling CBS News on Monday morning that he would not be running for president.

But he called on Democrats to hold a “mini primary” to find “the strongest candidate” rather than immediately rallying behind Harris.

Michael Bloomberg, the Biden campaign donor and former Republican mayor of New York, said on X that the four weeks until the convention in Chicago were “more than enough time for the party to take the pulse of voters, especially in battleground states”.

He added: “The decision is too important to rush, because the election is too important to lose.”

Biden announced he was stepping aside on Sunday after more than three weeks of Democratic party infighting over whether the 81-year-old president was up to the job in the wake of a disastrous debate performance against his Republican rival Donald Trump last month.

Biden swiftly endorsed Harris, the 59-year-old former prosecutor and one-time US senator, as his successor, giving her a big advantage in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Harris said she was “honoured” to have his endorsement and she intended to “earn and win this nomination”.

Washington is rife with speculation over who Harris might select as her running mate if she secures the nomination. Possible picks include several popular Democratic governors, including Beshear and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.

According to a person familiar with events on Sunday, Harris spent more than 10 hours on Sunday placing calls to more than 100 party officials, members of Congress, governors, labour leaders, and advocacy and civil rights organisations.