WATCH THE COURIER’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH VP KAMALA HARRIS, FEB. 20, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UURtr8oe3w
Courier Breaking News: Biden drops out of presidential race, endorses Kamala Harris to become Democratic nominee
by Rob Taylor Jr., Courier Staff Writer (July 21, 2024, 3:20 p.m.)
America is this close to having its first woman president.
Oh, and by the way, she’s a Black woman.
If you haven’t heard the news, President Joe Biden, days after contracting COVID-19 and a few weeks after a worrisome presidential debate performance with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, announced he would not run for president in November. The announcement was made early Sunday afternoon, July 21.
President Biden, who chose Kamala Harris as his running mate in the 2020 presidential election, threw his full support and endorsement behind Harris to become the Democratic nominee for president. While the Republicans have officially made Trump their nominee at the Republican National Convention, which was held from July 15-18, the Democratic National Convention is set for Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, the most Democratic of all Democratic strongholds.
It’s not 100 percent that Harris will win the Democratic nomination, however. There have been rumblings that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and California Gov. Gavin Newsom could be in the running, but given Harris’ standing as vice president, and the endorsement of her by President Biden, it would be tough for the Democrats to not make Harris their official nominee for president.
That would mean a WWE-style showdown between Trump, who survived an assassination attempt outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., on July 13, against Harris, who has immense support from America’s Black community. Prior to President Biden jumping out of the race, there were rumblings that some African Americans were leaning toward supporting Trump over Biden, albeit in small numbers. With Harris as the potential presidential nominee, however, those African Americans who may have been on the fence would most likely head back to the “left” side of the fence.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” President Biden said on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday afternoon, July 21, at 2:13 p.m. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
About a half hour following President Biden’s post, Gov. Shapiro of Pa. said on X: “President Biden is a patriot who has served our country honorably in the Senate, as Vice President, and as one of the most consequential presidents in modern history. President Biden has gotten an incredible amount done to move our country forward, defend our democracy, and protect real freedom. I am proud to work by his side and am grateful for his leadership and his unwavering commitment to delivering for Pennsylvania — the Commonwealth that raised him.”
Reverend Al Sharpton released a statement following President Biden’s announcement, which read, in part: “For the past three and a half years, the White House has made good on almost every single promise he’s made to Black America. Whether it was his executive order on police accountability, answering our call for a summit on the rise of violent hate, or expanding healthcare access through the Inflation Reduction Act, the President heard Black America and acted….Our nation is on a better course, especially for Black and Brown Americans, thanks to the work of this Administration.”
Reverend Sharpton concluded: “Vice President Harris was elected by the American people to stand ready to serve as the leader, not just of her party, but this entire nation. We know the playbook, but we also know her track record as a prosecutor, as Senator and now as Vice President. She has also been a staunch ally of the National Action Network. President Biden has turned to her repeatedly for guidance on the most pressing issues facing our community and her fingerprint is on all of the things that the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered for Black America. It will be imperative for all Americans, especially Black men, to stand with her in this historic moment.”
The United States’ first Black President, Barack Obama, may have helped tilt the scale on President Biden’s decision to not seek re-election. Many news outlets, including The Washington Post, reported in the past week that Obama told allies that President Biden’s path to victory had been greatly diminished, and, according to The Post, “needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy.”
Obama, who still has massive pull within the Democratic Party, applauded his former vice president for the legislation that he’s passed for the betterment of Americans as president, but feared a lot of it could be reversed or changed with Trump as president again.
Kamala Harris spoke exclusively with the New Pittsburgh Courier on Feb. 20, 2024, during ver visit to Pittsburgh to advocate for clean water infrastructure in Pennsylvania and the country. Among other topics, Harris addressed concerns at the time that there was apathy, or a lack of enthusiasm, within the Democratic Party, or for the 2024 Presidential Election as a whole. Harris, who spoke to the Courier inside the Kingsley Association headquarters on the city’s East End, doubled down on the work she said she and President Biden have done for the country.
“People said deal with Black unemployment; we now have the lowest Black unemployment in the history because of the work that we have done. That’s about building jobs and creating opportunities for not only employment, but for wealth-building,” Harris told the Courier, Feb. 20, 2024. “People said deal with the fact that Black businesses don’t get federal contracts in the same way that other businesses do. We have made a pledge which we are on track now to achieving, increasing federal contracts by 50 percent to minority-owned businesses. So this is some of the work that we have done and it is incumbent on us in an election season to let people know that we heard them, we have delivered and therefore believe that we have earned a re-election.”
Little did Kamala Harris know that it would be her in the driver’s seat to lead the Democratic ticket to that re-election come Tuesday, November 5.
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COURIER EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ROD DOSS, VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS, COURIER MANAGING EDITOR ROB TAYLOR JR.
COURIER EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ROD DOSS, VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS, AT THE KINGSLEY ASSOCIATION, FEB. 20, 2024.
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