By Anna Akopyan • Updated: 06 Aug 2024 • 23:50 • 3 minutes read
Kamala Harris, US presidential candidate Credit: Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris became the official Democratic presidential nominee to face former Republican President Donald Trump in the 2024 November elections.
The 59-year-old Vice President, Harris received 99 per cent of the votes from the Democratic delegates in a virtual roll call; 4,567 delegates from the States voiced their support for the candidate. “I am honoured to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I will officially accept the nomination next week. The campaign is about people coming together, fuelled by love of country, to fight for the best of who we are,” said Harris once receiving the good news.
Harris was rapidly and unexpectedly promoted to the role of a presidential candidate late in July, following President Joe Biden´s withdrawal from the race. Harris´ ascent to the nomination came after her campaign announced it had raised €283 million in July, succeeding Donald Trump´s presidential campaign.
With her advancement, Harris became the first woman of colour and the first ever Indian American to be nominated as a presidential candidate. The Vice President´s roots are mixed through her mother, Shyamala Gopalan from India and her father Donald Jasper Harris from Jamaica; both immigrated to the US.
Republican campaigners have been pushing the notion that Kamala Harris was chosen singularly because of her identity, claiming the Democrats are targeting the Americans invested in identity politics. The Democrats, meanwhile, acclaim Harris as the most apt candidate to lead the States forward. “Given that unique voice of a new generation, of a prosecutor and a woman, it´s almost as if the stars have aligned for her at this moment in history,” said Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California.
Running a campaign “for the future,” the presidential nominee announced that her aims attend to President Joe Biden´s policies; placing democracy, gun violence prevention and abortion rights as America´s key targets. Her view of Israel, however, has sparked controversy, as Harris has claimed to stand in solidarity with Palestine.
An Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research poll conducted after Biden´s withdrawal disclosed that 46 per cent of Americans have a favourable view of Harris; a nearly identical share are hostile towards the candidate. As her running mate, Harris chose Tim Walz of Minnesota, a former teacher and Army National Guard veteran, who she said had left her impressed “by his authenticity.”
In just two weeks, Walz was promoted from a third-tier candidate to Harris´ final choice; Republican campaigners emphasised that with her choice, the Vice President had “bent the knee to the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel left and chosen someone as dangerously liberal as she is.”
Facing the hard-headed Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 November elections, Kamala Harris aims to exercise her past work experience in the courtroom to confront the presidential nominee, who holds 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records in connection with a hush-money scheme.
Harris said during her biggest campaign so far, on July 31; “Before I was elected Vice President, I was an elected attorney general and before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds, predators who abuse women, frauds 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.”
Although Trump was willing to attend the presidential debate against Joe Biden in September, since Biden´s withdrawal, Trump announced that he will not engage in a debate with candidate Kamala Harris. She, in turn, stated; “I do hope you´ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage…because as the saying goes, if you´ve got something to say, say it to my face.”
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
From Moscow to Costa Blanca, Anna has spent over 10 years in Spain and one year in Berlin, where she worked as an actress and singer. Covering European news, Anna´s biggest passions are writing and travelling.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.