Key Democrats in Massachusetts are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris — from staunch supporters of President Biden to those who were calling on him to bow out of the race.
From the state’s Congressional delegation to Governor Maura Healey, a number of top Democrats are throwing their support behind Harris, following Biden’s announcement Sunday that he’s exiting the race.
Joining both U.S. Senator Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Representatives Jim McGovern and Seth Moulton, Congressman Richard Neal of the 1st District says Harris has his support as well.
“I support the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris. I've known her for a period of time. I think that she's consistent with a quality candidate,” Neal told reporters in Springfield Monday. “She has a history as a legislator, she has a history as a prosecutor.”
Also Monday, Governor Healey released a statement saying how, in addition to growing the economy and creating jobs, Healey thinks Harris will “deliver for Massachusetts and support growth, innovation and investment in our state.”
Both had been supportive of the president in the weeks following June’s shaky debate performance against Republican ex-President Donald Trump.
In the aftermath, a segment of the president’s own party calling for him to bow out grew louder.
Concerns over his ability to beat Trump, polling, and the effects a struggling campaign could have on other races across the country were cited by officials across the board, including in the Northeast, like from Moulton of the Massachusetts 6th district and Vermont Senator Peter Welch.
Similar reasons were given in a joint statement signed by seven state senators in Massachusetts last week, including Senator Jo Comerford of the Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester district.
It urged Biden to “pass the torch” and let a different candidate be nominated during the upcoming Democratic convention in Chicago.
According to Comerford, Biden exceeded the call.
“President Biden took that to a new level - he was so very thoughtful in his decision-making,” the senator told WAMC. “So, he not only told the nation that he didn't believe that he was the best candidate to make it to November and prevail - and prevailing is absolutely essential, with stakes this high. He told us that from his pretty significantly-deep perspective, and that's an understatement, that Vice President Harris was the person who he would put his faith in.”
Comerford has also endorsed Harris, pointing to the vice president’s experience in office and on the campaign trail, as well as campaign infrastructure available to her. The latter of which will be crucial, she says, given the short amount of time Harris has to make her case to the electorate.
Tim Vercellotti, a political science professor and director of the Polling Institute at Western New England University, says while Harris has been in the White House for the past few years and is no stranger to the national stage, with just over a hundred days to go before the presidential election on Nov. 5, speed is critical for the campaign she puts together.
“We have a sitting vice president who will need to do some work introducing herself to a large segment of the electorate, to folks who may not have been paying attention during her short-lived candidacy for president in 2020,” Vercellotti said in a phone interview with WAMC. “And four-and-a-half-years ago seems like an eternity with the speed of new cycles these days, so Kamala Harris will need to, fairly quickly, establish herself, introducing herself to the American electorate.”
Making matters more complicated – early voting starts even sooner.
“She will have the benefit of the Biden campaign’s long-range planning, but be mindful that early voting starts Sept. 20 in some states, including Virginia, which was becoming more competitive, and in some of the swing states, Oct. 7 is when early voting begins,” he noted. “We've never seen a national campaign that has to move this quickly under these tight circumstances, and so, I think the Trump campaign will probably reorient its strategy again. They had appeared to have done so after the June 27 debate, and the Harris campaign, working with the infrastructure that was in place for President Biden, has to be mindful that the clock is ticking, and they've got to build on that infrastructure in a time period that we haven't seen before.”
The Democratic National Convention in Chicago starts Aug 19.
