By John Cole & Peter Hall | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
In the latest sign that the Democratic Party is coalescing behind Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for president, the Pennsylvania delegation to the Democratic National Convention unanimously voted to endorse her candidacy during an emergency meeting on Monday.
“There is a tremendous amount of excitement in seeing Vice President Kamala Harris become the nominee of the Democratic Party,” Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Sharif Street said. “More than $66.9 million was raised through ActBlue yesterday, breaking the single-day record for dollars raised. Vice President Harris will be able to take the historic success of the Biden-Harris Administration and carry it forward under her leadership, vision, and intellect.”
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s Executive Board also officially announced its endorsement of Harris for president.
The vote came roughly 24 hours after President Joe Biden announced he wasn’t seeking reelection and pledged his support for Harris.
Street also thanked Biden in the press release, saying the president has “a history of putting America first over a career spanning more than half a century,” and lauded his record on the economy.
Other delegates from battleground states, including North Carolina, have also pledged support for Harris since Sunday’s announcement.
Since Biden’s announcement Sunday, Pennsylvania Republicans have largely criticized his decision and his endorsement of Harris, with some suggesting the president should resign.
But a bevy of Pennsylvania elected officials, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, and the state’s entire Democratic congressional caucus have endorsed Harris.
State Rep. Danilo Burgos (D-Philadelphia), a Democratic delegate, told the Capital-Star it was clear even before Monday’s vote that Pennsylvania was “all-in for Harris.” He said building a national consensus within the party is essential to Harris’ success as the presidential nominee.
“We still have four weeks to go, but I hope no one announces against her. She’s proven and she can do the work. It’s time we all focus on stopping Trump and his 2025 agenda,” Burgos said.
State Rep. Melissa Cerrato (D-Montgomery), another delegate, said the vote to endorse Harris brought “great sense of unity for the party.”
“It was very, very exciting when they called for a motion,” Cerrato told the Capital-Star. “At least 40 or 50 people all tried to make the motion all at the same time.”
“As a Black woman, this is personal for me to be able to cast my vote for a qualified, capable, smart, and very deserving Black woman to lead this country,” Dauphin County Democratic Party Chairwoman Rogette Harris, a delegate, said in a statement. “It’s a known fact that Black women are the heartbeat of the Democratic Party as the largest, most loyal voting block.”
“I encourage the Democratic Party to support qualified Black female leadership at the same capacity and vigor that Black women support the Democratic Party,” she added.
Ninety-two percent of Black voters in Pennsylvania supported Biden in 2020 over Donald Trump, according to exit polling.
Polling this cycle showed Biden leading Trump with Black voters, but the margins were becoming more narrow. There has not been a poll released since yesterday’s announcement showing how a Harris vs Trump matchup would poll in Pennsylvania.
Prior to Biden’s exit from the race, amid calls from dozens of members of his own party to not seek reelection, Pennsylvania Democrats remained loyal behind his bid for a second term.
On Thursday, a few hours ahead of Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Democratic county commissioners from Philadelphia’s collar counties, who serve as delegates to the DNC, said they would be supporting Biden at the convention.
“President Biden is our presumptive nominee and I know that there have been a lot of calls for him to step aside, but we have a responsibility as leaders in our party to standby President Biden and that’s an inherently personal choice that he has to make,” Montgomery County Commissioner Jamila Winder said on Thursday, prior to Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race. “My point of view here is that we need to support our presumptive nominee and that’s President Biden.”
“I think that we all love and respect Joe Biden and wanted him to be president again, but part of him stepping aside is him asking us to have faith in the vice president,” Bucks County Commissioner Chairperson Diane Ellis-Marseglia told the Capital-Star on Monday. “She’s the most prepared. She’s been the vice president for four years.”
Burgos shared a similar sentiment.
“I hate to see him step down but like he said, it’s in our interest as a nation that he decides to step away and support Vice President Harris for president,” Burgos said.
Should Harris earn the nod for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, she would have to select a running mate.
Ellis-Marseglia said the process by which a vice president nominee will be chosen is less clear.
“I assume [Harris] must be vetting people right now. Who knows whether something would leak out. It may even be something that they try to put off until the convention to add some excitement,” she told the Capital-Star.
Shapiro has been mentioned as a potential candidate for that role and plenty of Pennsylvania Democrats are saying he should join the ticket.
“I think he’s fabulous and we need to carry Pennsylvania and it would be a smart move,” Ellis-Marseglia said.
Burgos said choosing the right vice presidential nominee is crucial to secure the votes of moderate Republicans, “who understand that you have to govern and not throw tantrums.”
“Someone like Governor Shapiro can galvanize people to a common cause like he’s doing here in Pennsylvania and I believe that he can do it for our great nation as well,” Burgos said.
Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton and Philadelphia Democratic Party Chairman Bob Brady have also voiced their support for Shapiro to join Harris on the ticket as the candidate for vice president.
Shapiro was asked about joining the ticket during a press conference in Pittsburgh on Monday. He said he didn’t want to engage in hypothetical conversations about whether he would be interested in being Harris’ running mate but did speak with Harris on Sunday. “The conversations I’ve had with the Vice President are all about one thing and one thing only: How do we defeat Donald Trump?” Shapiro said.
Kim Lyons of the Capital-Star staff contributed.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.
