ORLANDO, Fla. – Vice President Kamala Harris has about a month to convince the delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to make her the party’s presidential nominee.
On Monday, Florida’s Democrats signaled their support.
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“The state of this race has changed,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “Our mission has not -- beat Donald Trump -- and Vice President Kamala Harris is the woman for the job.”
The Florida Democrats said 236 of the state’s 254 delegates to the DNC would back Harris’ bid to take over President Joe Biden’s campaign, one day after he announced he would not seek reelection.
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Democrats also announced that all eight Democratic members of the state’s Congressional delegation are also now pledging to support Harris as the new nominee.
It’s a big headstart for Harris, as Florida has one of the largest DNC delegations.
While Biden endorsed Harris as his replacement, the Democratic National Committee says it will have an “open, transparent, fair and orderly” plan for the nomination process that will allow the nearly 4,700 delegates to the convention to decide who to nominate.
Samuel Vilchez Santiago, who chairs the Orange County Democrats Executive Committee, says nearly all of Orange County’s DNC delegates support Harris, and on Monday night he expects the county’s Dems will vote to endorse Harris as well.
“President Biden made it clear yesterday, when he chose Vice President Harris for vice president four years ago, he thought she will be the standard bearer for the Democratic Party,” Santiago said. “And quite honestly, the 14 million people voted for President Biden in the primaries also voted understanding that Vice President Harris would be our vice president, and so she comes with a lot of legitimacy within our Democratic base.”
So far, no other Democrats have publicly entertained the notion of challenging Harris for the nomination. Many of the Democratic leaders mentioned previously as a possible replacement for Biden have already endorsed Harris, including California Gov. Gavin Newsome, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
All of them have since been named contenders to be Harris’ running mate. Santiago also mentioned Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, or North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper as good options.
“We’re looking to balance our ticket so that Americans can see that the Democratic Party is in line with the American voter and that we can take the election and create a clear contrast with the extremist Republican ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance,” Santiago said.
Santiago also thinks a Harris nomination will change the election completely, even in Florida, which has been written off by many politicos as a “Red State” since the Democrats’ disastrous showing in the 2022 elections.
Harris has already made several visits to the state to decry new abortion restrictions put in place by the Florida Legislature, and she will likely make many more trips if she gets the nomination.
In the meantime, Santiago says local Democrats are going to continue doing what they’ve been doing since January — talking to voters about all of their candidates. So far, Santiago says the Orange County Dems have knocked on over 16,000 doors this year.
“It is on us to make the case, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Santiago said. “We have phone banks set up every week. We have a door for canvassing events this Saturday, we have a canvassing event on Sunday. We’re taking over street corners on Friday, and so we’re energized, and we’re going to make the case to the people across Central Florida and to the people of the United States.”
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