North Carolina’s delegation to the DNC will support the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democrat nominee for president following President Joe Biden’s surprise announcement on Sunday that he will not seek reelection.
The announcement was made by a number of Democrat party leaders, including North Carolina DNC delegate Diana Williams Robinson, who announced in a social media post that the state’s DNC delegation was unanimously supporting Harris. Robinson also endorsed Gov. Roy Cooper as a potential running mate for Harris.
Cooper is among a number of prominent Democrats being considered as a VP pick, and The Wall Street Journal reports the Harris campaign has reached out to Cooper’s team for vetting materials as they consider the pick. Former Attorney General Eric Holder is said to be running the VP vetting.
Others being considered include Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Gov. Josh Shapiro (Pa.), Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (Mich.), Gov. J.B. Pritzker (Ill.) and Gov. Tim Walz (Minn.).
Currently, Kelly is seen as the frontrunner, but things have been changing quickly. According to Polymarket, a prediction website where investors can place bets on the outcome of political races, Cooper has a 20% chance to be picked, with Kelly at 39% and Shapiro at 19% as of Tuesday evening.
Harris has been tallying endorsements and delegate numbers over the past few days, with the DNC’s complicated nomination rules being scrutinized by lawyers and party insiders to ensure a smooth path to Harris’ nomination. The process has been derisively called a “coronation” by some Republicans, but Harris was was endorsed by Biden when he announced he wasn’t running.
Biden won all of North Carolina’s DNC delegates in the March presidential primary, although the party ensured he was running unopposed. North Carolina has 116 pledged DNC delegates and 14 superdelegates.
Biden had won enough states’ primaries and caucuses to secure support of a majority of the pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention. But those delegates had not yet officially cast their votes when Biden bowed out of the race.
Biden’s departure frees his delegates to vote for whomever they choose. There are nearly 4,700 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, with varying amounts from each state. That includes nearly 4,000 pledged delegates and about 700 superdelegates, such as current and former elected officials.
A party’s presumptive presidential nominee has never stepped out of the race so close to the election.
Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson, facing criticism because of the Vietnam War, announced in March 1968 that he would not seek another term that year. His announcement came after just a single state’s primary had been held. Biden’s July decision came after more than 14 million Democrats had cast votes supporting him through the primary process.
But throughout U.S. history, political parties have convened numerous conventions amid uncertainty. In 1960, Johnson and John F. Kennedy jockeyed for support from individual state delegations during their party’s convention. Democrats ultimately nominated Kennedy for president and Johnson for vice president.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
