Harris goes after Trump as delegates line up to put her on brink of Democratic nomination
Washington DC - Vice President Kamala Harris appeared poised to clinch her party's presidential nomination after receiving support from enough Democratic delegates Monday, as she launched a blistering campaign against Donald Trump.
![Vice President Kamala Harris (r.) blasted Donald Trump in a speech before confirming that she had secured the number of delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.](https://media.tag24.de/951x634/m/f/mf7j9iv71cs11x1qs5q9dndic0s2ms2n.jpg)
With the support of a slew of Democratic heavyweights, including the president himself, and massive voter donations, Harris quickly closed in as the Democratic party's heir apparent, and delegates pledged to Biden began falling in line to pledge their support.
"Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party's nominee," Harris wrote in a statement, after reports said she had sailed past the number of delegates needed – 1,976 out of nearly 4,000 – in order to decisively secure the Democratic presidential nomination during voting in the coming weeks.
The news came after Harris, in her first speech to campaign workers since Biden's bombshell announcement that he was quitting the race, lashed out at Republican nominee Trump on Monday at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.
Telling the crowd of workers she had come to address them personally after the "rollercoaster" of the last few days, she reminded them that in her past role as California's chief prosecutor, she "took on perpetrators of all kinds."
"Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type," she said to applause.
"We are going to win in November," a smiling Harris told the workers.
She also pledged to focus on abortion after Trump praised the Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn the long-held federal right to the procedure.
Harris heads to Milwaukee for key rally
![Harris played up her career as a prosecutor while comparing Trump to "predators," "fraudsters," and "cheaters" that she dealt with.](https://media.tag24.de/951x634/v/i/vihqwd5bwg5va3rvusgb6067095pm57z.jpg)
Biden's stunning withdrawal has completely upended the 2024 race, jolting a demoralized Democratic Party and confusing Republicans, who now have to completely retool a strategy that had been built around attacking the 81-year-old president over his age and physical frailty.
Trump himself has seemingly found it hard to move on from Biden.
He launched a series of invective-filled social media posts, mocking his rival's age and cognitive state, before awkwardly pivoting to "Lyin' Kamala Harris," who he insisted was "the most unpopular Vice President in history."
Biden, meanwhile, made his first public remarks in nearly a week as he recovered from a bout of Covid.
He called in to the campaign meeting to say that dropping out – after mounting party and voter concerns over his health and mental acuity – had been the "right thing to do" and he praised his VP as "the best."
On Tuesday, Harris takes her fight against Trump to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she will hold a rally hoping to bolster her following in the critical swing state.
Cover photo: Brendan SMIALOWSKI, Nick Oxford / AFP