Vice President Kamala Harris has secured enough votes from Democratic delegates to become the party’s nominee for president, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said Friday.
The online voting process doesn’t end until Monday, but the campaign marked the moment when she crossed the threshold to have the majority of delegates’ votes.
Harris is poised to be the first woman of color at the top of a major party’s ticket.
“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee," Harris said on a call with supporters.
Harrison said “we will rally around Vice President Kamala Harris and demonstrate the strength of our party” during its convention in Chicago later this month.
CBS News Washington Correspondent Major Garrett told WCCO's Chad Hartman Show that the vetting process for her potential vice president is ongoing with several meetings schedule dover the weekend.
"I don't know who it's going to be, I think there's a lot," says Garrett. "There's been a late push for JB Pritzker, the Governor of Illinois. I think the probability of that is next to zero, but there's a push. Pete Buttigieg has a substantial fundraising network and they have stood themselves up to make themselves visible and you can never ignore that. I think it's a low probability, but you cannot ignore that."
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is one of the few Democrats Harris is vetting for vice president, is expected to meet face-to-face with her this weekend as she inches closer to choosing a running mate.
In talking with local reporters this week Walz was evasive.
"I'm not interviewing for anything," said Walz. "I'm just who I am and put it out there. I think it's going to be really important, that the best decision and the best for the vice president, is to make that."
Garrett says Walz has really made a strong case for himself too.
"I will say this, the good governor of Minnesota, he has put on a late and significantly important push for this on his own, without a donor network or without a lot of wherewithal financially and otherwise, as JB Pritzker has, the Governor of Illinois," Garrett explained. So I don't think you can rule Governor Waltz out. I still believe in the end, this will come down to personal connection and comfort, ability and biography. And on that score, I think (AZ Senator) Mark Kelly has the inside track."
Walz is also scheduled to attend a Harris campaign rally on Sunday.
Democrats have pushed ahead with a virtual vote to nominate Harris, nearing the culmination of a turbulent process that was upended by President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek reelection.
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention began voting via secure email on Thursday, and the voting will remain open until Monday evening. Harris has not yet chosen her running mate, and she's expected to interview candidates over the weekend.
The formal nomination is expected to be finalized by Aug. 7 even though the party's convention in Chicago isn't scheduled to begin for more than two more weeks. Democratic officials have said the accelerated timeline was necessary because of an Aug. 7 deadline to ensure candidates appear on the Ohio ballot.
Harris was endorsed by Biden shortly after he dropped out of the race, catapulting her to the forefront of the campaign to beat Republican nominee Donald Trump. No other major candidate challenged Harris for the nomination, and she was the only choice for delegates under party rules that required pledges of support from at least 300 delegates, with no more than 50 signatures from any one delegation.
Any delegate who wants to vote for someone other than Harris will be tallied as "present."
Democrats still plan a state-by-state roll call during the convention, the traditional way that a nominee is chosen. However, that will be purely ceremonial because of the online voting.
The party insists it has to have its nominee in place before its convention opens in Chicago on Aug. 19 to make sure it meets ballot access deadlines in Ohio — an argument that the state’s Republicans dispute.
Ohio state lawmakers have since changed the deadline, but the modification doesn’t take effect until Sept. 1. Democratic attorneys warn that waiting until after the initial deadline to determine a presidential nominee could prompt legal challenge.