Kamala Harris gains Black, Latino, AAPI support as Biden steps down

Photo from the White House

After three weeks of intense pressure from members of his own party to step down, President Joe Biden announced July 21 that he would not seek re-election and immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” said Biden in a statement. “While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus entirely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” he said.

About an hour later, Harris, the first Black, South Asian and female Vice President, said she would seek the nomination. In a speech last week at the APIAVote Presidential Hall, Harris said: “This is the most existential, consequential, and important election of our lifetime.” She roundly condemned Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who may now be her opponent.

Biden’s legacy

Both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus immediately endorsed Harris. Shekar Narasimhan, co-founder and chair of the powerful AAPI Victory Fund told Ethnic Media Services as news was breaking that his organization firmly endorses Harris. “We will work very hard to make sure she is the nominee,” he said. “Both for the legacy of Biden and for the sake of keeping the large Democratic coalition intact, it would be political malpractice for us not to nominate her.”

“Kamala Harris inherits the apparatus of the campaign. She is the logical nominee.”

Explaining the process, Narasimhan said Harris — and other Democrats who wish to step in to the race — would have to get a minimum of 300 pledged and signed delegates by Aug. 1. The nominee would then be announced Aug. 6. “The real surprise will be the vice presidential pick,” he said.

The Democratic National Convention begins Aug. 19 in Chicago, Illinois.

Carole Porter used to ride the bus with Harris from the Berkeley flatlands up to Thousand Oaks Elementary School in the early 1970s. The two have been close friends ever since. “Kamala is absolutely the right person for this job. She has worked so hard to get here and will break that last glass barrier.”

Porter has supported Harris since 2004, when she campaigned on the streets of San Francisco, using a fold-up ironing board on which to place flyers in her run for the District Attorney’s office. “I knew, even back then, that there would be a path for her to get here,” she said.

“Kamala is not only going to re-energize the base. She’s going to bring more people in: Gen Zs, the working class, women, among others. She is lifting us all up,” said Porter.

“I’m here to support the best person for this job, and that is Kamala Devi Harris,” said Porter. “I’ll do whatever she needs me to do to get her to where she deserves to be.”

Race shakes up

Political science professor Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder of AAPI Data, told Ethnic Media Services that there has been a high level of dissatisfaction by Democrats and Republicans for their party’s nominees. “Biden’s debate performance put Democrats in a deeper deficit, although that was not reflected in polling numbers. But it was starting to look like a landslide for Trump.”

“This completely shakes up the race. It’s likely more of a toss up now, and a real danger for Trump,” said Ramakrishnan. Trump has called his now apparent opponent “crazy,” and “nuts.” Minutes after Biden dropped out, Trump’s campaign launched into an attack on Harris.

Ramakrishnan noted that California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer have both stated they will not run. The wild card is former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, he said, adding that Latinos have felt a lack of visibility within this administration. Castro was one of the earliest to call for Biden to step down.

Wild card Julian Castro

“Kamala Harris has been an excellent Vice President, an electric campaigner, and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump,” said Castro on X/Twitter, shortly after the announcement.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, would make a good vice presidential pick said Ramakrishnan, noting that the husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, permanently disabled after an assassination attempt, is one of the strongest advocates for gun control.

Robert Camacho, a Latino elected delegate from California’s CD11, had mixed emotions about Biden stepping down. He and his husband Tim Miller spent a day with Biden last month when he came to the San Francisco Bay Area, and also met the President at the White House on June 15, 2022 when he signed an executive order protecting LGBTQ+ rights.

The LGBTQ+ vote

“I feel like someone has attacked my family member,” he said, weeping as he spoke. “In Biden, I saw a man that gave his all in trying to make our lives better. He is and will always be a true leader.”

“It was heartbreaking for me to see the President go through the media attacks. We have had presidents with disabilities who served us well,” said Camacho, referring to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served four terms, though afflicted with polio. “This was really disrespectful,” he said.

Camacho serves on the DNC’s Finance Committee, and has volunteered with the White House’s Office of Public Engagement’s outreach to the Latino community. He dismissed media chatter about Hispanics reportedly turning to Trump, saying polls consisting of not more than 2,000 people could not accurately represent a voting population of 14 million people.

Camacho said he will now firmly throw his support behind Harris. (Ethnic Media Services)

You may like: Fil-Am Attorney General Rob Bonta, California leaders back Kamala Harris