New York (Web Desk/Agencies): Vice-President of the United Stated (US) Kamala Harris has secured the Democratic presidential nomination in a vote of party delegates to become the first woman of colour leading a major national ticket, party officials announced.
Speaking by telephone, Ms Harris said she was “honoured to be the presumptive nominee” as the virtual roll call continues ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago later this month.
Ms Harris is the first black woman and first South Asian woman to become the White House standard-bearer for a major US political party.
If she defeats Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, in November she would be America’s first female president.
On Friday afternoon, Ms Harris formally became the nominee after securing the support of 2,350 delegates, the threshold required to earn the nomination.
“We believe in the promise of America and that’s what this campaign is about,” she said in her brief remarks by phone as she crossed the benchmark.
“We are in this, we are on the road and it’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to get this done.”
In total, Democrats have said 3,923 delegates – or 99% of the participants – plan to vote for her.
The rollcall began on Thursday and ends on Monday.
Presidential and vice-presidential nominees are typically anointed at their party conventions, but the relatively late date of the 2024 DNC risks falling afoul of state ballot access laws.
Ms Harris, 59, was born in Oakland, California, to an Indian mother and Jamaican father.
Ms Harris was endorsed by President Joe Biden who quite the race after a poor June debate performance against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and now her challenger.
She is expected to name her running mate by Monday.
The Trump campaign and some Republicans have criticized the replacement of Biden with Ms Harris, arguing she is the first major party candidate to secure the nomination without holding a press conference or a sit-down interview. Some have referred to the substitution as a “coup”.
But Ms Harris has hit the campaign trail hard since Biden’s endorsement, making the case against Trump in multiple campaign rallies and fundraisers across battleground states.
On Friday, the campaign announced it had raised more than $310 million in the month of July, with more than two-thirds of people donating money for the first time.
That figure is more than double the $138m raised by the Trump campaign last month and marks the biggest haul of the 2024 election cycle so far.