The Greene County Democrat

Category: World News

  • Newswire: Gaza war: skin diseases spread among children in overcrowded camps

    Palestinian child with skin rash

    By Rédaction Africanews and AP

    Forced to live in overcrowded camps in appalling hygienic conditions, skin diseases are running rampant among the displaced, health officials have said. 
    Her mother is hopeless. “At first there was a pimple on her face, then a week ago it began to spread in her stomach, hands and face,” said Shaima Marshoud, sitting next to her little daughter in a cinder block structure they’d settled in among the tents.
    “It hurts her and raises her temperature at night, and it has no cure, and if there is a cure, we cannot buy it.”
    “The minimum necessities of life, such as cleaning materials and water, are not available. If available, they are sold at a ridiculous price, we cannot afford it. We have been unemployed for ten months.” 
    Doctors are wrestling with more than 103,000 cases of lice and scabies and 65,000 cases of skin rashes, according to the World Health Organization. 
    The distribution of humanitarian supplies, including soap, shampoo and medicines, has slowed to a trickle, UN officials say, because Israeli military operations and the lawlessness it has induced make it too dangerous for relief trucks to move.
    A steady stream of miserable children and worried parents flowed into the dermatology office at Nasser Hospital in central Gaza.
    Nassim Basala, a dermatologist at Nasser Hospital, said they get 300 to 500 people a day coming in with skin diseases. 
    After the most recent Israeli evacuation orders, more people have crowded into agricultural fields outside the city of Khan Younis, where insects are rife in the summer.
    Epidemic proportions
    Scabies and lice are at epidemic proportions, he said, but other fungal, bacterial and viral infections and parasites are also running wild.
    With the flood of patients, even simple cases can because dangerous. For example, Basala said, impetigo is a simple bacterial infection treatable with creams.  He said creams and ointments were in short supply at the hospital.
    Children are the most affected. But adults suffer as well. 
    More than 1.8 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, often moving multiple times over the past months to get away from Israeli ground assaults or bombardment. 
    The vast majority are now crowded into a 50-square-kilometer area (20 square miles) of dunes and fields on the coast with almost no sewage system and little water.
    In a report released Tuesday (Jul. 30), the United Nations Development Programme said Gaza’s two pre-war landfills were unreachable amid the fighting and it had set up 10 temporary sites. 
    But officials said there were more than 140 informal dumping sites that have cropped up.  Some of them are giant pools of human waste and garbage.

     

  • Newswire : Trump’s chilling rally confirms his plans for dictatorship if he beats Harris

    Trump supporters storm nation’s Capital on January 6, 2021


    By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    In a series of alarming rallies, former President Donald Trump has made his intentions clear, signaling plans that many critics describe as dictatorial. At Turning Point Action’s Believers Summit, Trump urged Christian voters to turn out for the 2024 election with an unprecedented promise: “Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. … You got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.” With these words, Trump moved beyond veiled rhetoric, outlining a vision for America that directly threatens democratic principles.
    Trump’s campaign has highlighted Agenda 47 as its official policy platform for the 2024 presidential election. This agenda, closely aligned with Project 2025, proposes sweeping changes to U.S. governance that align with authoritarian ideals. Both plans, shaped by Trump loyalists, aim to reshape the government and civil society under what can only be described as a fascist framework, asserting their mission is to rescue the country from radical leftist influences. Project 2025 envisions ending the administrative state by placing the entire federal bureaucracy under direct presidential control, a “Unitary Executive” approach often seen as a pathway to autocracy.
    Similarly, Agenda 47 aims to dismantle the so-called “deep state” by firing thousands of civil servants and replacing them with loyalists, referred to as “patriots who love America.” According to Trump, this restructuring would make federal bureaucrats and politicians accountable to the American people. However, the plans fail to explain how the people would actually hold these officials accountable, raising fears of unchecked presidential power.
    Authoritarian leaders have long used propaganda to manipulate public opinion, and experts suggest that Trump’s rhetoric follows this playbook. By framing checks and balances as “corrupt obstacles to the popular will,” Trump seeks to justify their dismantling, creating an illusion of serving the public while concentrating power in the executive branch. Despite ongoing controversies, including the police murder of Sonya Massey, Trump has doubled down on his rhetoric of providing “federal qualified immunity” to all officers. This stance aligns with his earlier declarations that police should have the authority to shoot perceived criminals on sight, a policy that could lead to increased instances of unchecked police violence.
    Adding to the controversy is Trump’s own legal history. He has received 34 felonies convictions, a judge found him guilty of committing significant business fraud, and a civil jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting a writer. Many have noted that these convictions and allegations paint a troubling picture of a leader advocating for policies that could undermine democratic norms and the rule of law.
    As the 2024 election approaches, Trump’s statements and policy proposals have raised alarms about the future of American democracy. His calls for Christians to vote as if it’s the last time, combined with plans for sweeping governmental changes, suggest a vision of America that could lead to authoritarian rule. “When Vice President Harris says this election is about freedom she means it,” the Kamala Harris campaign said in a statement. “Our democracy is under assault by criminal Donald Trump.” Washington Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal called Trump’s rhetoric “terrifying.” “We cannot let this be the case,” she asserted.

     

  • Newswire : President Biden demands Supreme Court overhaul and Constitutional Amendment

    President Joe Biden with VP Harris

    By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

     

    President Joe Biden has called for a sweeping overhaul of the Supreme Court and a constitutional amendment to limit presidential power, signaling his intent to tackle deep-seated issues within the American judiciary. In a compelling ‘op-ed’ published this week, Biden underscored the need for reforms to restore public trust and integrity in the nation’s highest court, at a speech at the LBJ Library in Texas.

    “I served as a U.S. senator for 36 years, including as chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee,” the president wrote. “I have overseen more Supreme Court nominations as a senator, vice president, and president than anyone living today.”
    Biden, who earlier this month stepped aside and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the next president, said he maintains great respect for America’s institutions and separation of powers.
    “What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach,” Biden stated.
    The president’s most striking proposal is a constitutional amendment to ensure former presidents are not immune from federal criminal indictments, trials, convictions, or sentencing.
    “We are a nation of laws — not of kings or dictators,” Biden remarked.
    His assertion comes in direct response to a recent Supreme Court ruling that shields certain presidential actions from prosecution, a decision that has provided a lifeline to former President Donald Trump amid his ongoing legal battles.
    Biden further advocated for imposing term limits on Supreme Court justices, suggesting 18-year terms to prevent any single presidency from exerting multigenerational influence over the judiciary. “Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity and reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come,” he insisted.
    Biden also called on Congress to enforce stringent ethics requirements on Supreme Court justices, akin to those governing other federal judges. Criticizing the current voluntary ethics code as insufficient and self-enforced, he argued for robust regulations concerning gifts, political activities, and financial dealings. “This is common sense,” he wrote. “The court’s current voluntary ethics code is weak and self-enforced.”
    Biden is scheduled to elaborate on these proposals in a speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, as part of the 60th anniversary celebration of the Civil Rights Act. The event, initially slated for mid-July, was postponed following an alleged assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
    Last week, from the Oval Office, Biden addressed the nation, explaining his decision to end his re-election campaign and outlining his plans for his remaining time in office, including his call for Supreme Court reform. Reports had previously revealed that Biden had already communicated his ambitious reform agenda to Congress, marking a significant departure from his previous reluctance to endorse substantial changes to the court. The shift follows recent controversies involving Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and contentious rulings by the conservative majority on pivotal issues like abortion rights.
    Justice Elena Kagan has also recently advocated for a more robust code of ethics for the Supreme Court, emphasizing the need for enforceable mechanisms to uphold judicial accountability. Despite the presidential push for these reforms, passing such legislation through a divided Congress remains a formidable challenge. Senate Democrats, including Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, have expressed strong support for Biden’s proposals but acknowledge the political hurdles ahead. Harris has endorsed Biden’s call, stressing the necessity of restoring public confidence in the court and ensuring that no individual is above the law.
    “Our democracy depends on the integrity of our institutions,” Biden stated. “This is not just about reforming the Supreme Court—it’s about safeguarding the future of our nation. We must act now to ensure justice and fairness for all Americans.”

     

  • Newswire :Vice-President Kamala Harris hauls in $200 million in the first week of her candidacy

    Vice President Kamala Harris takes her official portrait Thursday, March 4, 2021, in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

     

    She adds 170,000 volunteers

    By Blackmansstreettoday

     

    Kamala Harris raked in $200 million in her first week as a presidential candidate, and signed more than 170,000 volunteers to her campaign, “Harris for President,” communications director Michael Tyler wrote in a statement announcing the fundraising haul. 

    The haul comes amid rumors that Republican president Donald Trump plans to dump Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate because Trump is not happy with some of his statements, including his calling some women “childless cat ladies.”

    Trump, the former president, selected Vance as his vice president on (July 15, 2024).

    Trump is waiting to see who Harris will select as her vice president before dumping Vance if Harris names a much stronger candidate as her vice president.
    ,
    The Harris campaign said 66% of the recent donations made came from first-time donors and were given after President Biden announced last Sunday that he was stepping down and endorsing her to be the Democratic nominee. 

    The total donations thus far are staggering and point to the intensity surrounding her nascent bid with 100 days to go before Election Day.

    To put that figure in perspective, it’s four times what the Biden re-election effort raised in the entire month of April. 

    Former president Trump’s campaign said it raised nearly $112 million during June, Politico reported. 

    The announcement comes one week after President Joe Biden’s bombshell decision to end his re-election bid and throw his support behind the vice president.

    “The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” Harris for President communications director Michael Tyler wrote in the same fundraising report.

    Since Harris became the party’s all-but-certain presidential nominee, Democrats have been jolted out of their collective malaise following Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month against Donald Trump.

    With Harris ascending to the top of the ticket, the party saw mammoth fundraising, including topping the $100 million mark in her first full day as the Democrats’ likely nominee. The campaign soon announced she had secured enough verbal commitments from delegates to secure the party’s nomination ahead of the Democratic National Convention next month.

    The energy behind Harris, who is of Black and South Asian descent, is also showing up in the polls, with Harris closing the deficit that had widened in the final weeks Biden was the presumptive nominee.

  • Newswire: Federation set to honor Congressman James Clyburn at Annual Meeting

    Congressman James Clyburn

    The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund will award its ‘Estelle Witherspoon Lifetime Achievement Award’ to Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina.
    The award will be presented at an August 15, Thursday evening fundraising dinner ,at the Sheraton Civic Center Hotel in downtown Birmingham, Alabama.

    The annual banquet will mark the start of the Federation’s 57th Annual Meeting. On August 16 and 17th, the meeting continues at the Federation’s Rural Training and Research Center, between Epes and Gainesville, in Sumter County, Alabama. There will be panels, workshops and demonstrations on agricultural and rural development issues.

    Congressman James Clyburn has been a champion for Black farmers and other rural people for his entire career in Congress representing South Carolina’s Sixth District. He has served as Majority Whip and Assistant to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and leader of the National Democratic Party.

    Persons interested in registering to attend all or any part of the Federation/LAF Annual Meeting
    should go to the organization’s website at: http://www.federation.coop for more information

  • SOS to commemorate signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, in Selma, on Tuesday, August 6, 2024

    An inspirational Celebration and Commemoration of the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is set for Tuesday, August 6th, at 2:30 p.m. at the National Voting Rights Museum & Institute and Statue Park on the Montgomery side of the bridge in Selma. The public is invited and encouraged to attend, and elected officials are specifically invited to participate. August 6th is the 59th Anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s signing this landmark piece of legislation into law.

    Former State Senator Hank Sanders said,” We must come back to the bridge for this momentous anniversary. This event is also an opportunity to encourage all voters to fully exercise their right to vote in the 2024 November General Election and in all elections. Passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act would not have been possible without the sacrifice of countless individuals whose names are both known and unknown. “

    So many people from diverse backgrounds and from across this country fought for the right to vote for all United States citizens. Some gave the ultimate sacrifice – their lives – for the right to vote, including men and women, Blacks and Whites, young and old, and members of the clergy. Selma played a crucial role in the Movement that brought about the 1965 Voting Rights Act and is a worldwide symbol for struggles for the right to vote.

    Attorney Faya Rose Toure said, “This may be the last election we will be able to participate in, if some candidates, with an authoritarian streak, get elected and start to dismantle our Constitution and destroy our democracy. WE must return to the bridge on August 6, 2024.”

    Leaders of national organizations have been invited to participate, and some participating in the August 6th event include Southern Christian Leadership Conference National President & CEO Charles Steele and others with SCLC. U.S. Representative Terri Sewell (CD 7) has been invited as has the Democratic nominee for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, Shomari Figures.

    A cookout is being held as part of the Voting Rights Celebration and Commemoration with all food being provided at no cost to all those in attendance. School children also played a pivotal role in the Voting Rights Movements, and free basketballs have been provided by North Star Beloved Community Corporation in conjunction with Kay Doherty and Sharing, Inc and will be given to children who participate in the August 6th Celebration and Commemoration.

    This event is sponsored by SOS – the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy and other social and economic justice organizations in the state. The National Voting Rights Museum & Institute is located at 6 US-80 East in Selma on the Montgomery side of the foot of the Bridge.

    For more information contact: Shelley Fearson at 334-262-0932; John Zippert at 205/657-0273 and Hank Sanders at 334/782-1651.

  • Newswire :Bernice Johnson Reagon, whose powerful voice helped propel the Civil Rights Movement, has died

    Bernice Johnson Reagon


    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Bernice Johnson Reagon, a musician and scholar who used her rich, powerful contralto voice in the service of the American Civil Rights Movement and human rights struggles around the world, died on July 16, according to her daughter’s social media post. She was 81.
    Reagon was probably best known as the founder of the internationally renowned African American female a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, which she led from 1973 until her retirement in 2004. The Grammy-nominated group’s mission has been to educate and empower as well as entertain. They perform songs from a wide range of genres that include spirituals, children’s songs, blues and jazz. Some of their original compositions honor American civil rights leaders and international freedom movements like the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
    “She was incredible,” said Tammy Kernodle, a distinguished professor of music at Miami University who specializes in African American music. She described Reagon as someone “whose divine energy and intellect and talent all intersect in such a way to initiate change in the atmosphere.”
    Reagon’s musical activism began in the early 1960s when she served as a field secretary for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and became an original member of its Freedom Singers, according to an obituary posted on social media by her daughter, musican Toshi Reagon. The group reunited and was joined by Toshi Reagon to perform for then-President Barack Obama in 2010 as part of a White House performance series that was also broadcast nationwide on public television.
    Born in Dougherty County outside of Albany, Georgia, in 1942, Reagon attended music workshops in the early 1960s at Tennessee’s Highlander Folk School, a training ground for activists. At an anniversary gathering in 2007, Reagon explained how the school helped her see her musical heritage as something special.
    “From the time I was born, we were always singing,” Reagon said. “When you’re inside a culture and, quote, ‘doing what comes naturally to you,’ you don’t pay attention to it. … I think my work as a cultural scholar, singer and composer would be completely different if I had not had someone draw my attention to the people who use songs to stay alive, or to keep themselves together, or to lift up the energy in a movement.”
    While a student at Albany State College, Reagon was jailed for attending a civil rights demonstration and expelled. She later graduated from Spellman College. She formed Sweet Honey in the Rock while a graduate student of history at Howard University and vocal director of the D.C. Black Repertory Company.
    Reagon recorded her first solo album, “Folk Songs: The South,” with Folkways Records in 1965. In 1966 she became a founding member of the Atlanta-based Harambee Singers.
    Reagon began working with the Smithsonian Institution in 1969, when she was invited to develop and curate a 1970 festival program, Black Music Through the Languages of the New World, according to the Smithsonian. She went on to curate the African Diaspora Program and to found and direct the Program in Black American Culture at the National Museum of American History, where she was later a curator emeritus. She produced and performed on numerous Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
    For a decade, beginning in 1993, Reagon served as distinguished professor in history at American University in Washington, later becoming a professor emerita.
    We assume that music was always a part of civil rights activism, Kernodle said, but it was people like Reagon who made music “part of the strategy of nonviolent resistance. …They took those songs, they took those practices from inside the church to the streets and the jail cells. And they universalized those songs.”
    “What she also did that was very important was that she historicized how that music functioned in the civil rights movement,” Kernodle added. “Her dissertation was one of the first real studies of civil rights music.”
    Reagon received two George F. Peabody Awards, including for her work as principal scholar, conceptual producer and host of the Smithsonian Institution and National Public Radio series “Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions.”
    She was also the recipient of the Charles E. Frankel Prize, Presidential Medal, for outstanding contributions to public understanding of the humanities, a MacArthur Fellows Program award, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change Trumpet of Conscience Award.

  • Newswire: Bodycam video reveals chaotic scene of deputy fatally shooting Sonya Massey, who called 911 for help

    Sonya Massey


    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Sonya Massey ducked and apologized to an Illinois sheriff’s deputy seconds before he shot the Black woman three times in her home, with one fatal blow to the head, as seen in body camera video released Monday.
    An Illinois grand jury indicted former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, 30, who is white, last week. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.
    The video confirmed prosecutors’ earlier account of the tense moment when Grayson yelled from across a counter at Massey to set down a pot of hot water. He then threatened to shoot her, Massey ducked, briefly rose, and Grayson fired his pistol at her.
    Authorities said Massey, 36, had called 911 earlier to report a suspected prowler. The video shows the two deputies responded just before 1 a.m. on July 6 at her home in Springfield, 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. They first walked around the house and found a black SUV with broken windows in the driveway.
    It took Massey three minutes to open the door after the deputies knocked, and she immediately said, “Don’t hurt me.” She seemed confused as they spoke at the door, and she repeated that she needed help, referenced God and told them she didn’t know who owned the car.
    Inside the house, deputies seemed exasperated as she sat on her couch and went through her purse as they asked for identification to complete a report before leaving. Then Grayson pointed out a pot sitting on a flame on the stove.
    “We don’t need a fire while we’re here,” he said. Massey immediately got up and went to the stove, moving the pot near a sink. She and Grayson seemed to share a laugh over her pan of “steaming hot water” before she unexpectedly said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
    “You better (expletive) not or I swear to God I’ll (expletive) shoot you in your (expletive) face.” He then pulled his 9mm pistol and demanded she drop the pot. Massey said, “OK, I’m sorry.” In Grayson’s body camera footage, he pointed his weapon at her. She ducked and raised her hands.
    Grayson was still in the living room, facing Massey and separated by a counter dividing the living room and kitchen. Prosecutors have said the separation allowed Grayson both “distance and relative cover” from Massey and the pot of hot water.
    After Grayson shot her, Grayson discouraged his partner from grabbing a medical kit to save her. “You can go get it, but that’s a headshot,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do, man.” He added: “What else do we do? I’m not taking hot (expletive) boiling water to the (expletive) face”
    Noting that Massey was still breathing, he relented and said he would get his kit, too. The other deputy said, “We can at least try to stop the bleeding.

  • Newswire : Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee dies at 74

     Congresswoman Shiela Jackson Lee

     

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent


    Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, one of the longest-serving members of the Texas delegation, has died at the age of 74. In June, Jackson Lee announced her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, yet she showed little indication of letting it interfere with her plans to run for a 16th term this November.
    The fiery congresswoman disclosed her diagnosis in a written statement shortly after winning renomination in a fiercely contested Democratic primary. Known for her unwavering commitment to social justice, she was a fervent advocate for reparations for African Americans and a vocal critic of the twice impeached and 34 times convicted felon and former President Donald Trump. Unlike some of her colleagues, she did not join the calls for President Joe Biden to step aside from the 2024 race.
    As recently as Wednesday, July 19, Jackson Lee continued to champion President Biden’s re-election campaign. “Something that does not get talked about enough: we were able to bring down homicides in Houston with federal investment,” she wrote on X. “After President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, we brought $50 million to the city to take on crime—and it worked! Local/federal partnership saved lives.”
    She added, “This House Democrat believes Joe Biden has served us well and has the best plans for the future. I am laser-focused on beating Donald Trump and delivering for America because that’s what matters.” Jackson Lee also reminded her followers that America saw one of the most significant homicide spikes ever in Trump’s last year in office. “He threw his hands in the air and did not know what to do,” she asserted. “Since he left, I am proud that our American Rescue Plan has done the very important work to bring these numbers down! Federal/local partnerships worked.”
    Jackson Lee’s many legislative achievements are significant and wide-ranging. She played a crucial role in the passage of the Violence Against Women Act. She was a senior House Committee member on the Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Budget Committees. She was the first female ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee for Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, serving as Chair during the 117th Congress.

    “The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) extends to the family of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee our profound condolences.  May the legacy and memory of Sheila Jackson Lee be enshrined in the pantheon of global freedom fighters,” said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Jackson Lee was a powerful advocate for a free and energetic press — and for the Black Press of America in particular.
    Among her notable legislative efforts were the Sentencing Reform Act, the George Floyd Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act, the RAISE Act, the Fair Chance for Youth Act, the Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act, Kalief’s Law, and the American RISING Act. She also introduced the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Reauthorization and Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act and the Federal Prison Bureau Nonviolent Offender Relief Act.

    A staunch supporter of women and children, Jackson Lee championed the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. She authored the Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Research and Education Act.

    Jackson Lee was widely recognized for her effectiveness and influence. Congressional Quarterly named her one of the 50 most effective Members of Congress, and U.S. News and World Report listed her among the ten most influential legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was a founder, member, and chair of the Congressional Pakistan Caucus and the Congressional Children’s Caucus. She was chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Energy Braintrust and the Justice Reform Task Force co-chair.
    A Yale University alumna, Jackson Lee earned her B.A. in Political Science with honors and later received a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Elwyn Lee, an administrator at the University of Houston; her two children, Jason Lee, a Harvard University graduate, and Erica Lee, a Duke University graduate and member of the Harris County School Board; and her two grandchildren, twins Ellison Bennett Carter and Roy Lee Carter III.

  • Newswire: Harris has support of enough Democratic delegates to become party’s presidential nominee

    Vice President Kamala Harris

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey, as top Democrats rallied to her in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his bid for reelection.
    The quick coalescing behind Harris marked an attempt by the party to put weeks of internecine drama over Biden’s political future behind them and to unify behind the task of defeating Trump with just over 100 days until Election Day. Prominent Democratic elected officials, party leaders and political organizations quickly lined up behind Harris in the day after Biden’s exit from the race and her campaign set a new 24-hour record for presidential donations on Monday.
    Several state delegations met late Monday to confirm their support for Harris, including Texas and her home state of California. By Monday night, Harris had the support of well more than the 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot, according to the AP tally. No other candidate was named by a delegate contacted by the AP.
    California state Democratic Chairman Rusty Hicks said 75% to 80% of the state’s delegation were on a call Tuesday and they unanimously supported Harris.
    “I’ve not heard anyone mentioning or calling for any other candidate,” Hicks said. “Tonight’s vote was a momentous one.”
    Still, the AP is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. That’s because the convention delegates are still free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention in August or if Democrats go through with a virtual roll call ahead of that gathering in Chicago.
    Harris, in a statement, responded to the AP tally, saying she is “grateful to President Biden and everyone in the Democratic Party who has already put their faith in me, and I look forward to taking our case directly to the American people.”
    Worries over Biden’s fitness for office were replaced by fresh signs of unity after a seismic shift to the presidential contest that upended both major political parties’ carefully honed plans for the 2024 race.
    Speaking to campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris acknowledged the “rollercoaster” of the last several weeks but expressed confidence in her new campaign team. “It is my intention to go out and earn this nomination and to win,” she said. She promised to “unite our Democratic Party, to unite our nation, and to win this election.”
    She quickly leaned into the themes that will be prominent in her campaign against Trump over the coming 100 days, contrasting her time as a prosecutor with Trump’s felony convictions — “I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said — and casting herself as a defender of economic opportunity and abortion access. “Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedoms,” she said. “The baton is in our hands.”
    The president called into the meeting from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he is recovering from COVID-19, to lend his support to Harris. He planned to talk about his decision to step aside in an address to the nation later this week. “The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all,” Biden said in his first public remarks since announcing his decision to step aside, promising he was “not going anywhere” and plans to campaign on Harris’ behalf.
    Biden said of his decision, “It was the right thing to do.” As he handed off the mantle of leadership to Harris, Biden added: “I’m watching you kid. I love you.”
    Harris was headed to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Tuesday as her campaign for the White House kicks into high gear. The event in Milwaukee will be her first full-fledged campaign event since announcing her candidacy.
    The AP tally is based on interviews with individual delegates, public statements from state parties, many of which have announced that their delegations are supporting Harris en masse, and public statements and endorsements from individual delegates.
    Locking up the nomination was only the first item on the staggering political to-do list for Harris after learning of Biden’s plans to leave the race Sunday morning on a call with the president. She must also pick a running mate and pivot a massive political operation that had been built to reelect Biden to boost her candidacy instead.
    On Sunday afternoon, Biden’s campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President, reflecting that she is inheriting his political operation of more than 1,000 staffers and war chest that stood at nearly $96 million at the end of June. She added $81 million to that total in the first 24 hours after Biden’s endorsement, her campaign said — a presidential fundraising record — with contributions from more than 888,000 donors.
    The campaign also saw a surge of interest after Harris took over, with more than 28,000 new volunteers registered since the announcement — a rate more than 100 times an average day from the previous Biden reelection campaign, underscoring the enthusiasm behind Harris.
    Big-name Harris endorsements Monday, including from Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, left a vanishing list of potential rivals. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who had been one of the notable holdouts, initially encouraging a primary to strengthen the eventual nominee, said she was lending her “enthusiastic support” to Harris’ effort to lead the party.
    Harris, if elected, would be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to be president.
    The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, but the party had announced before Biden dropped out that it would hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin. The convention’s rules committee is scheduled to meet this week to finalize its nomination process with a virtual vote as soon as Aug. 1, the party announced on Monday, with the process completed by Aug. 7.
    “We can and will be both fast and fair as we execute this nomination,” Jaime Harrison, the Democratic National Committee’s chair, said on a conference call with reporters. The party said the virtual roll call would feature multiple rounds of voting on nominees if multiple candidates meet the qualification threshold. To qualify, candidates must have the electronic signatures of 300 convention delegates.