U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday officially kicked off her campaign for president, vowing to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump by focusing on a better future for the United States as opposed to his emphasis on past glory.
After securing endorsements from top Democrats in Congress, as well as backing from a majority of party delegates ahead of its nominating convention next month, Harris appeared at the first rally of her presidential campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a key swing state.
"I'm told, as of this morning, that we have earned the support of enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination," she said to a crowd that responded with loud cheers. "I pledge to you I will spend the coming weeks continuing to unite our party, so that we are ready to win in November."
A number of U.S. political analysts noted a greater renewal of enthusiasm among Democrats than expected following U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to exit the presidential race on Sunday and endorse Harris as his successor.
As Harris raised $81 million in the 24 hours after Biden's announcement, the largest single-day sum in U.S. presidential history, pundits expect the release of pent-up Democratic energy to continue.
Biden returned to the White House on Tuesday after being treated for COVID-19 in Delaware. He is scheduled to address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday night regarding his decision to abandon his reelection bid.
In his X post about the upcoming speech, Biden said he will touch on "what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people."
Framing the race as a contest between herself as a former prosecutor and Trump as a convicted felon, with the candidates representing "two different visions for our nation," Harris said at the event that she believes "in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead."
A former senator and state attorney general from California, Harris, 59, is the country's first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president. She took aim at Trump, Biden's predecessor, by warning that he intends to "take our country backward" with plans including tax breaks for billionaires and cuts to social welfare benefits.
Before walking off the stage to Beyonce's "Freedom," her campaign song, Harris said that in the next 105 days until the election, "We have work to do. We have doors to knock on, we have phone calls to make, we have voters to register and we have an election to win."
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