Vice President Kamala Harris speaks from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
CHARLESTON — Vice President Kamala Harris continues to gather support from Democratic lawmakers, donors and convention delegates in her quest to earn the presidential nomination after President Joe Biden’s decision not to run again. Among those in her corner will be the West Virginia delegation to the Democratic National Convention.
That capped a day when a former Democrat — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va. — debunked rumors that he would return to the party for a run at the nomination, while the state’s other U.S. Senator, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, joined the chorus of Republicans calling for Biden to resign immediately.
The West Virginia Democratic Party announced Monday evening that the state delegation to the Democratic National Convention voted to throw their support behind Harris. Ohio Democrats followed suit a few hours later.
“Vice President Harris, as the first African American woman nominated by a major political party, will represent a historic milestone in American politics,” the party said in a statement. “Her nomination will not only break barriers but also paves the way for a more inclusive and representative democracy.”
“As someone who has witnessed the struggles and triumphs of the civil rights movement, seeing Vice President Harris as our nominee fills me with immense pride,” said state DNC delegate Jean Evansmore, an 83-year-old African American woman and a lifelong advocate for civil rights. “Her leadership is what our nation needs to restore justice and equality.”
While Biden has 3,896 pledged delegates, the Democratic Party has yet to officially nominate a presidential ticket, with the Democratic National Convention taking place in Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. But Harris is quickly solidifying support from major Democratic leaders as the party’s banner holder.
Despite rumors late Sunday that he would re-register as a Democrat and challenge Harris for the Democratic nomination following Biden’s exit from the race, Manchin said Monday he was not running for president.
Manchin, I-W.Va., went on Monday morning news programs to wave off talk of presidential ambitions one day after calling on Biden to exit the race. Instead, Manchin used the attention he was getting for encouraging both political parties to focus on moderates and independents like himself.
“I am not going to be a candidate for president,” Manchin said on CBS Mornings. “I am a candidate basically speaking for the middle of this country. There are 51% who are registered and participate in the election in America who are basically in the same party I am: independent … neither side can win without the sensible, moderate middle. They can’t do it, yet, no one is going that direction.”
In a letter posted on social media Sunday afternoon, Biden announced he was suspending his re-election for president. He also endorsed Harris, a former prosecutor and U.S. Senator who ran in the 2020 primary for president before being tapped as Biden’s vice presidential running mate, becoming the first Black woman and first South Asian woman to hold that position.
However, by Sunday evening, national media was reporting that Manchin was considering returning to the Democratic Party in order to challenge Harris for the presidential nomination. Manchin was a life-long Democrat until June, when he switched to unaffiliated.
After winning election to the Senate in a 2010 special election and full six-year terms in 2012 and 2018, Manchin announced last November that he would retire from the Senate at the end of his term in January 2025. Manchin also considered making a run for president on a No Labels unity ticket with a Republican. But after spending part of 2024 considering it, Manchin announced he would not pursue a third party presidential nomination.
Speaking later Monday morning on West Virginia MetroNews Talkline with host Hoppy Kercheval, Manchin said there needs to be a healthy debate at the Democratic National Convention for a presidential nominee. Manchin would not endorse Harris, saying she is not the best candidate to beat former Republican President Donald Trump.
“She’s too far to the left. She’s always been very far to the left,” Manchin said. “This country is not where the left wing and their hardcore progressive base believes that they are and where they’ve taken the Democratic party … She’ll get beat like a drum if she doesn’t find the middle.”
Biden has remained defiant over the last few weeks about staying in the presidential race following a bad debate performance against Trump in June. Concerns about Biden’s age and his physical ability to manage the office of president have been near constant since taking office in 2021. But those concerns have been growing exponentially, with fellow Democratic leaders urging Biden both privately and publicly to withdraw from the race.
Republican leaders want to see Biden take things a step further and either resign as president or be removed. Capito joined House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines, R-Mont., in calling for Biden to step down.
“We live in a dangerous world and deserve a commander in chief who is up for the rigors of the job,” said Capito, the vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference. “If President Biden feels that he is not capable of making it through the demands of a campaign, then how could he be capable of serving out the rest of his term as president?”
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican nominee for governor of West Virginia in November, called on Harris and Biden’s cabinet Monday to invoke the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows the vice president and a majority of cabinet officials to remove a sitting president. Morrisey wrote a similar letter to Harris earlier this year.
“If Biden is incapable of running, then he is incapable of fulfilling the duties of the presidency,” Morrisey said, “President Biden’s cognitive decline is of great concern to Americans, especially during these times that our nation is facing crisis after crisis both here and abroad…need a president who is mentally fit.”