Harris secures enough delegate endorsements to win the Democratic presidential nomination
By Ethan Cohen, Molly English, Matt Holt and Sydney Topf, CNN
(CNN) — Kamala Harris has the support of enough Democratic delegates to win the party’s nomination for president, according to CNN’s delegate estimate.
While endorsements from delegates continue to come in, the vice president has now been backed by well more than the 1,976 pledged delegates she’ll need to win the nomination on the first ballot.
Harris crossed the threshold amid a wave of endorsements from state delegations Monday evening.
These endorsements are not binding and with President Joe Biden out of the race, delegates are free to vote for the candidate of their choice.
CNN’s count comes from public statements of support from delegates and state delegations, CNN reporting and conversations with delegates. Endorsements from state delegations are counted as unanimous support for Harris absent other information.
“Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top. I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon,” Harris said in a statement from her campaign late Monday.
Under a plan outlined by Democratic officials Monday, delegates are expected to vote virtually to confirm Harris as the nominee by August 7.
The Democratic National Committee has long made clear that it is committed to locking in its nominee before the in-person convention begins on August 19 – and specifically before August 7, which, it says, is critical to ensure ballot access in all states and avoid the risk of litigation.
While all delegates will receive ballots, votes cast by superdelegates – senior Democrats who serve as delegates by virtue of their position – will be counted on the first ballot only if one candidate has the support of enough pledged delegates to make up a majority of the full convention. That could be determined either by a candidate winning enough votes during remote balloting, or by gathering that many signatures.
Harris, who will hold a campaign event in Milwaukee on Tuesday, visited the campaign’s headquarters in Delaware earlier Monday. She delivered a speech to staff, previewing her campaign argument against former President Donald Trump and detailing her experience as an attorney general and prosecutor.
The vice president said in her statement Monday that she will continue to travel across the country in the coming months “talking to Americans about everything that is on the line. I fully intend to unite our party, unite our nation, and defeat Donald Trump in November.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s MJ Lee and Sam Fossum contributed to this report.
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