During a town hall for Latinos hosted by Univision on Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked to clarify how she secured the presidential nomination while the Democratic Party sidelined President Joe Biden. She had no response.
An elderly Latino man, unsure of his voting intentions, remarked on Harris’s nomination, stating, “It seemed unprecedented, so close to the elections. … I’m also worried about how President Biden seems to have been pushed aside.”
“How can you clarify this whole process and how you were elected?” Harris was asked.
“First of all, thank you for being so candid and allowing me to answer the question, thank you,” Harris began. Then she offered a lengthy response that gave no clue as to how the process by which she gained the nomination came about, saying, “President Biden made a decision that I think history will show was probably one of the most courageous that a president could make, which is he decided to put country above his personal interest. And he made that decision. He very, within that same period of time, supported my candidacy and urged me to run.”
Harris then transitioned to discussing a series of endorsements:
He and I have been partners for the last four years as his vice president to him as the President, and I am honored to have earned the Democratic nomination. I am honored to have the endorsement of people from every walk of life. You will probably find that I probably have a bigger coalition of people who couldn’t seem to be more different than each other, who have come together around my candidacy, from 200 Republicans who worked with and for both Presidents Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, including Liz Cheney, the former Congresswoman and her father, the former vice president, Dick Cheney, who was supporting me, former members, very esteemed members, including generals of the national security community. I have the endorsement and support of Alberto Gonzalez, most recently, who, of course, was attorney general.
Following the 1968 Democratic National Convention, where delegates pledged to Robert Kennedy or Eugene McCarthy were outvoted in favor of Vice President Hubert Humphrey, the party revised its delegate selection rules to prioritize primaries over caucuses or conventions, thus enhancing the significance of the primaries.
Concerned about their diminishing influence, party leaders introduced the concept of superdelegates in 1984, which allowed Democratic legislators greater authority in the nominating process and gave the party more control over the presidential nominee selection.
This was evident in 2020 when it seemed Senator Bernie Sanders might secure the nomination, but party leaders intervened to help Joe Biden win South Carolina, propelling him toward the nomination.
Harris’s rise to the presidential nomination occurred without her winning any primary votes. After Biden was pushed out by various party leaders, Harris was selected as the nominee by those leaders and was effectively chosen before the Democratic National Convention.
