PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is less than a month away. At the DNC, around 4,000 delegates will gather and decide if Harris should represent the party for president.
Could Harris announce her running mate at the DNC?
“It’s possible she could, but I would think she would want to jump on it sooner rather than later,” said Julia Manchester, political reporter for The Hill. “So the delegates at the convention have more of an idea of what direction they’ll be going in.”
Monday at 11:30 a.m., Harris made her first appearance since President Biden endorsed her. She spoke with NCAA College athletes, but did not say anything about her campaign.
“We know that according to her campaign, she’s raised over $49.6 million just since announcing President Biden announced that he would be dropping out of the race,” Manchester said. “We know that she secured a number of major endorsements from senators like Mark Warner, Elizabeth Warren. Obviously, President Biden endorsed her just moments after he dropped out of the race.”
According to The Hill, national polls show Trump leads Harris by two points, 47 to 45. This is Similar to Trump’s 2.5 percent lead he had over Biden.
“We’ll have to see if that changes with Harris,” Manchester said. “I imagine there won’t be a huge change, but we’ll see.”
As far as continuing the campaign, an NSU political analyst believes Democrats need to win over Virginia to have a better chance at winning the election.
“In terms of the states that she’s going to be focusing on, Virginia is a big one,” Manchester said. “Remember, Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance is in Radford today. We know that Democrats have increasingly been paying more attention to Virginia.”
Meanwhile, Virginia Delegate Michael Feggans said a Harris presidency would be historic.
“Not just being the first black woman and first woman of South Asian descent, but a member of the Divine Nine, an HBCU graduate,” Feggans said. “This this really does show that you can come from anywhere in this country and rise up to the to the highest office potentially.”
Feggans joins the many delegates in the commonwealth who will help pick the nominee at the upcoming DNC. So far, the delegates in North Carolina unanimously pledged to vote for Harris. The delegates in Virginia will meet Monday night to decide who they will back. Feggans said they are heavily leaning towards Harris.
“Many of the individuals I’ve talked to, not just in their national delegates in Virginia, but across the country, are fully behind are fully behind Vice President Kamala Harris.”
This morning, Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine described the Biden decision as a “jolt.” Despite this, he is throwing his full support behind Harris for president and believes she will get the nomination at the convention.
“The contrast between a prosecutor who has prosecuted fraud, sexual assault and crime, standing on stage with a convicted felon who has also been found civilly liable for a sexual assault is one that I think is going to be very powerful,” Kaine said.
Senator Kaine said the upcoming convention process is going to be unprecedented. He also expects Harris to pick a running mate very soon.
“Normally, it takes about two months,” Kaine explained. “I’ve been through the vice presidential vetting process twice and it normally takes two months. We don’t have two months.”
Senator Kaine said there is a “zero chance” he would be the running mate for Harris, since it would potentially throw off the Democrat majority in the Senate chamber.
