Politics

Kamala Harris earns majority of Democratic roll call votes, achieving historic presidential nomination

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on August 6, 2024

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris has officially gotten the vast majority of delegate votes in the virtual roll call that nominates her as the Democratic presidential nominee, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement released late Monday.

The roll call, which concluded on Monday evening, still needs to be certified by Convention Secretary Jason Rae, according to the statement, but the announcement makes Harris’s historic nomination effectively official.

“With the support of 99% of all participating delegates in the virtual roll call, Vice President Harris has historic momentum at her back as we embark on the final steps in officially certifying her as our Party’s nominee. We thank the thousands of delegates from all across the country who took seriously their responsibility throughout this process to make their voices – and the voices of their communities – heard,” party chair Jaime Harrison and Democratic National Convention Committee Chair Minyon Moore said in a statement.

Harris received 4,567 votes from delegates, according to the Democratic National Committee.

Harris is the first Black and South Asian woman to lead a major party ticket.

Harris had effectively been the party’s nominee since Friday, when Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison announced on a livestream call that Harris had earned enough Democratic Party delegate votes in a virtual roll call to secure the party’s nomination.

Harris was the only competitive candidate that launched a campaign to succeed President Joe Biden after his withdrawal from the race, and the only candidate that received enough delegate signatures to progress to the virtual roll call.

Convention delegates have been virtually voting by email or phone since 9 a.m. ET on Thursday in a virtual roll call set up by the Democratic National Committee. Delegates had until Monday at 6 p.m. ET to vote in the nomination process.

The DNC initially decided in May to hold a virtual roll call because of uncertainty over deadlines to get on the ballot in Ohio. The state legislature eventually rectified the issue, but the DNC has argued that Republican lawmakers in Ohio are acting in bad faith and that the Democratic candidate needs to be nominated earlier than the convention to avoid legal issues. Ohio leaders have denied this allegation.