Joe Biden is the best President of my lifetime, and one of the reasons is that he knew when to leave the stage. I couldn’t help getting choked up when I read the letter he wrote saying that he would not run for reelection, and I was elated when he went out of his way in that letter to thank Vice President Kamala Harris “for being an extraordinary partner.” Then, minutes later, he endorsed her for President. In doing so he cleared the field of competing candidates to help her clinch the nomination in one day.
Kamala Harris is the perfect candidate to run against Donald Trump. She’s almost twenty years younger than Trump, she’s the first female Vice President, and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. Trump’s a convicted felon who will be running against an experienced Attorney General and prosecutor.
Jasmyne Cannick is a Democratic strategist and elected delegate to the LA County Democratic Party. She’s also a member of the LA County District Attorney’s Office’s African-American Advisory Board. Here’s what Jasmyne has to say about Kamala Harris: “Harris’ candidacy has energized the base, already mobilized key voter demographics, and strengthened the party’s overall electoral chances. As we move towards the election, Harris is going to be a powerful catalyst for important down-ticket races. She was just the lifesaving move that had to happen in order to bring the Democratic Party back to life, because all races on the ballot with Democrats were going to suffer had Biden stayed on the ticket.”
In the first ten days after Joe Biden announced that he would not run for reelection—and then endorsed Kamala Harris—the Democratic party has come to life with an unprecedented level of excitement and solidarity that I have not seen since I began paying attention to politics more than sixty years ago. We have gone from a kind of dark depression to elation in less than two weeks. First came a “Win With Black Women” Zoom call. Then spontaneous self-organized Zoom calls of hundred of thousands of rank and file voters raised millions of dollars in small donor contributions. Volunteers by the thousands have signed up, and new voters have registered. The Zoom call by thousands of Black women inspired other groups: Black men, South Asian Americans, and white women. Finally, the New York Times just reported that “On Monday night, the string of identity groups backing Ms. Harris reached its bizarre, and perhaps inevitable, apotheosis with the inaugural meeting of the aptly named “White Dudes for Harris.” the call went on for more that three hours and raised more than four million dollars for the Kamala Harris Presidential campaign. Dude!