President Biden has quit the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. So now how will the Democrats decide on a brand new presidential ticket? I'm Michelle Martin, that's A Martinas and this is Up First from NPR News. With weeks to go before the convention in Chicago, Harris is now at the top of the ticket and winning over some voters. I feel energized about Harris and the chance that we can only on an honest week go up from here.
How does she perform against Trump? And the Trump campaign has wasted no time switching gears to attack the VP's record. Well I don't know Kamala, I did serve in the United States, bring for and build a business what the hell have you done other than collect the check. Where does she pose the biggest threat? They will us, we've got the news you need to start your day. The AI platform for business transformation. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into.
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Merrill understands that. That's why with a dedicated Merrill advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. Go to ML.com slash bullish to learn more. Merrill, a Bank of America company. What would you like the power to do? Investing involves risk. Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fener, and Smith Inc. registered broker dealer, registered investment advisor, member SIPC. President Biden said yesterday he is giving up the democratic nomination and dropping out of the race for reelection.
Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his choice to take over the top of the Democratic ticket. But it's unclear how the party will now proceed. We're joined now by NPR senior White House correspondent, Tamara Keith, who is in Rehobith Beach, Delaware, where Biden has been recovering from COVID. Also with us is NPR National Political Corp. And tomorrow, Lyson. All right, Tim, let's start off with you. You're leading off here.
President Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the nominee. So what's Harris planned to do with that endorsement? Well, in a statement, Harris said that she is honored that President Biden endorsed her and that it is her intention to earn and win the nomination. She added that she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and unite the nation to defeat Donald Trump.
And according to a person familiar with her day, Harris worked the phones for more than 10 hours on Sunday, calling Democratic Party leaders and talking about her plans. At this point, we don't know yet if anyone will be able to get enough support from Democratic convention delegates to make this a real race.
So far, we have seen a ton of endorsements pour in for Harris, including members of Congress, entire state delegations, and some of the big name Democrats who had previously been mentioned as possible candidates. But in their statements praising Biden's decision, fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama notably didn't explicitly endorse Harris.
In a meeting with campaign staff yesterday after Biden's announcement, Jen O'Malley-Dillen, whose lead Biden's reelection effort told staff that they still have a job, and they are quickly pivoting to be full steam ahead behind Vice President Biden. The branding and website have already changed.
So much of their campaign was focused on beating Trump, trying to make it a referendum on him that O'Malley-Dillen said they don't need to reinvent the wheel in litigating the case to the American public. Just one more note. Last night, the Democratic Fundraising Platform Act blew announced that the Harris presidential campaign had raised more than $46 million from grassroots donors in the hours since Biden endorsed her. That is a money bomb.
Marlaison, then, what is the sense among Democrats about Harris' chances? Well, I think that they are cautiously optimistic, but we just don't have a lot of evidence here. Our latest NPR poll and PR Marist PBS poll showed that she runs nationally against Trump about the same as Biden does. What we don't have are any public battleground polls to see how she does.
But Democrats are cautiously optimistic, even Democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi, who haven't yet endorsed her and are talking about some kind of an open process. That doesn't mean that they're against Kamala. They just want something that doesn't look like a coronation. Tomorrow, on Friday, the Biden campaign was insistent that they were staying in it until the race was over. So what change was the timeline? Well, this was a real process. This is a hard thing.
Don't forget, this is a politician Joe Biden, whose political identity, his origin story, is of someone who's always counted out and always proves his critics wrong. He started out very defiant. He was going to stay in the race. He sounded like he was in denial about what the polls showed, but in the end, he was not deluded. And his aides came to him, showed him internal polling that his standing in battleground states was collapsing.
And he wanted to get out before the trickle of Democrats calling for him to get out turned into a tidal wave. So, Tamara, how much do voters know about Kamala Harris? Like all vice presidents, she has been at many points pretty invisible and struggled to carve out her own political identity. I was recently in North Carolina talking to voters who were like, where is she and what is she doing?
But the reality is that she's been on dozens of foreign trips and became a leading voice for the administration on abortion. But a lot of people don't really feel like they know her aside from being a first. And what they do know, maybe through the lens of Republican attacks on her handling of immigration and even her laughter. The hits are already coming, some about policy and some that lean on well-worn tropes about black women. There are Democratic outside groups, including Emily's list.
I spoke with them yesterday planning to spend millions of dollars to make sure voters feel comfortable with Harris as president. Okay, but here we go because Democrats have less than a month before their convention in Chicago. So, Tamara, can you walk us through exactly what is going to happen next? I mean, what's the process like? What will it involve?
We are headed for a highly condensed primary campaign where the only voters are the 4700 or so delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. This is a group of elected Democrats, party activists, and volunteers who will decide. And if they haven't coalesced behind a candidate by the start of the convention, it could go through multiple rounds of voting until a candidate gets the majority.
And in the meantime, one expert on the process told me it will be like reality TV that you've never seen before. At least not since 1968, that convention. Interestingly, there is nothing in the US Constitution about how nominees are chosen. This is a party process, which feels weird given that millions of people voted in the primary, but the rules are quite clear, even if Republicans and former President Trump are trying to make it sound nefarious. I do like reality TV. I am a big fan of that.
What about your thoughts on what this process will involve next? Well, the big question is if anyone stands up to run against her. There's going to be tremendous pressure on Democrats who want to preserve their, quote, viability in the system, as Bill Clinton said once, to not do that. The outpouring of endorsements show you that Democrats at least, and the lack of a series challenger, shows you that at least Democrats seem to be completing step one of this process, which is party unity.
And that's really important. But the other big question is, can Kamala Harris rise to the occasion? One top Democrats said to me that no politician modern times has ever been asterized to the occasion like this. She was not a great candidate in 2020. She dropped out before any votes were cast. But I think Democrats do feel this is their last best hope to defeat Trump or barring that to at least flip the house and stop a complete Trump takeover of the government.
One more thing for both of you really quick. I mean, it's a lot of upheaval in the Democratic Party. If any sense of how Democrats are feeling in this moment, Marlott, start with you on that. Yeah, I think they're feeling a big sense of relief and a lot of trepidation about what's going to happen next. Tam, what about you? Just look at those fundraising numbers. They are off the charts, which means there was a lot of pin-top demand from Democrats to find something to get excited about.
And they're going to get excited about this. I heard from Democratic campaign volunteers who are ready to get to work for their new future nominee. That's MPR's Tamra Keith and MPR's Moralize. And thanks to you both. Thank you. You're welcome. Now, for a look at how President Trump and the Republicans are going at Vice President Harris. Yes, Harris still has to secure the Democratic Party's nomination, but Republicans are already running as if she has.
They are trying to tie her to Biden's biggest challenges, including immigration and inflation. White House correspondent Franco Ordonius, who is covering the Trump campaign, is here to talk about strategy. So, Franco, what was the response from Trump's camp about Biden stepping down? I mean, hey, they say it doesn't matter. I mean, soon after Biden dropped out, Trump was already on his truth social, saying he doesn't care who he faces on the left, saying they're just more of the same.
But the campaign did quickly pivot to Harris, calling her the quote, enabler in chief. I mean, they're basically accusing her of concealing Biden's physical and mental-fessness issues. They're looking to paint Harris and Biden as one. You know, saying quote, there is no difference between the two, and that she didn't do anything when she could about inflation and when the border was in chaos. Yeah, the nicknames came quickly, as they always seem to do.
You were in Grand Rapids where Trump held his first rally with his new running main target, Bands. That was before the announcements about they already were attacking Kamala Harris. Yeah, they were kind of workshopping attacks. Bands particularly wasted no time going after Harris, even eluding to the idea that she hasn't worked really hard while he has. Well, I don't know Kamala. I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and build a business.
What the hell have you done other than collect the check? You know, and he accused Harris of being Biden's quote, borders are during record-breaking migration. So tell us about that because, I mean, immigration has been a part of Harris' portfolio in the White House. Yeah, I mean, while she was tasked with leading efforts to address the root causes of migration, that's basically working with Latin American governments.
She actually was never specifically appointed to fixing the border like a ZAR would, I guess. But that hasn't stopped Republicans from attacking her on the border. I mean, it's really become a Republican talking point. The Republican National Committee actually also put out a video Sunday attacking her and it started like this. Warning. The following may upset liberals who don't want voters to know the truth about Kamala Harris.
You know, they use selective cuts and they just went on the attack on Harris over immigration. And they charged that she neglected the border. Again, not necessarily her area. All right. So let's just say it is Kamala Harris going up against Donald Trump. Where would she pose the biggest threat to the Trump campaign? Yeah. I mean, publicly the campaign says that they're not worried that it's the same issues and the same policies. But it's really not that simple.
I mean, they're not the same person. They have different strengths and weaknesses. The Trump campaign has spent a lot of resources targeting Biden's mental acuity. And that attack line just isn't going to work against Harris in the same way who is nearly two decades younger than Trump. You know, and as Tamara just said, Harris is also a leading voice for Democrats on abortion, a huge issue for voters and a big vulnerability for Trump. And she polls better with young voters and voters of color.
Plus, Harris might perform better with suburban women. And all these groups, all these groups are going to be very critical in this year's coming election. All right. That's NPR's Franco Ordonius. Thank you very much for bringing this this. Thanks, hey. And that's up first from Monday, July 22nd. I'm Emartina. And I'm Michelle Martin. How about giving a listen to consider this from NPR here on up first week?
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