- Harris wins Democratic nomination
- First Black, South Asian female nominee
- Expected DNC convention announcement soon
US Vice President Kamala Harris has passed the Democratic presidential nomination barrier in a ballot of party delegates.
Ms. Harris spoke on the phone, saying she was “honored to be the presumptive nominee” as the virtual roll call continued ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago later this month.
Ms Harris is the first black woman and the first South Asian woman to serve as the White House standard bearer of a major US political party.
If she defeats Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, in November, she will become America’s first female president.
She ran unchallenged in the virtual roll call after President Joe Biden stepped down last month and swiftly endorsed her. Several potential competitors followed his lead.
Ms Harris finally became the nominee on Friday afternoon, having received the support of 2,350 delegates, the minimum requirement for nomination.
“We believe in America’s promise, and that is what this campaign is about,” she said briefly over the phone as she passed the threshold.
“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.”
Democrats have stated that 3,923 delegates, or 99% of the participants, intend to vote for her.
The roll call started on Thursday and ended on Monday.
Presidential and vice-presidential nominees are typically selected at party conventions, but the 2024 DNC’s extremely late schedule may violate state ballot access restrictions.
Ms Harris, 59, was born in Oakland, California, and is the Democratic Party’s first nominee from a western state in nearly 200 years.
She advanced through the ranks of state politics, from San Francisco district attorney to California attorney general and eventually US senator.
Before getting out, Mr Biden handily won the Democratic primary. Despite voter worries about his age, he faced little opposition and received the support of 99% of pledged DNC delegates.
However, after a dismal performance in a June debate against Trump, the 81-year-old faced mounting internal party pressure to retire.
While Mr Biden was still the presumptive candidate, a decision was made to hold a virtual nominating process before the convention on August 19-22.
It was in response to Ohio’s ballot access requirements, which require candidates for the November ballot to be formally picked 90 days before the election or by August 7.
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Republican leaders in the state had warned that they would enforce the legislation. While lawmakers subsequently created an exemption, as they have in the past, Democrats argued that an early roll call would mitigate the risk of their candidates being eliminated from the ballot.
Delegates are not required to vote on the vice-presidential nominee.
Ms. Harris is likely to announce her running companion by Monday.
The Trump campaign and some Republicans have criticized Mr. Biden’s replacement with Ms. Harris, claiming she is the first major party candidate to win the nomination without attending a press conference or a sit-down interview. Some have referred to the substitution as a “coup.”
However, since Mr Biden’s endorsement, Ms Harris has hit the campaign circuit hard, making the case against Trump at several campaign events and fundraisers in battleground states.
On Friday, the campaign reported raising over $310 million (£242 million) in July, with more than two-thirds of people making their first donation.
That sum is more than double the $138 million raised by the Trump campaign last month and represents the largest haul of the 2024 election cycle thus far.
