Does Kamala Harris have support of South MS Democrats? Here’s what political leaders said
It was like taking away the car keys away from your proud grandpa, CNN anchor Van Jones said on the air Sunday.
Jones was describing President Biden’s decision not to seek re-election. The president made his announcement in a letter posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday afternoon. Biden’s political career has spanned five decades.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president,” Biden wrote. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and my country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”
The announcement comes after weeks of scrutiny and speculation toward Biden’s fitness to effectively govern as president for another term – and the president’s repeated statements saying that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Vice President Kamala Harris now emerges as Biden’s heir apparent. Minutes after announcing he was dropping from the presidential race, Biden threw his support behind Harris’ new campaign.
Biden’s decision is the latest earmark in an eventful past few days– an attempted assassignation on former President Trump and the selection of the Republican vice presidential candidate, J. D. Vance.
What MS political leaders think
Biden’s dropping out allows all 3,896 delegates who had committed to voting for him to now vote for whoever they wish to be nominee at the Democratic National Convention. Harris needs the backing of 1,976 delegates to win at the convention which starts on August 19.
That includes all 40 of Mississippi’s delegates. Each one backed Biden. Rickey Cole, Democratic Chair of Mississippi’s Fourth District, said he expects all of Mississippi’s going to rally behind Harris.
“I don’t know of any delegate from Mississippi who is not enthusiastically backing our vice president for the presidential nomination,” Cole said.
It takes “a lot of ego,” he said, for someone to run for president, but it takes a lot of humility to put that ego aside and do what he believes is best for the country.
“I am going to wholeheartedly support Kamala Harris,” said Mississippi Democratic delegate Curley Clark from Pascagoula. “We have a tremendous opportunity to elect someone who is going to carry out the current policies that have been established by President Biden and also make history in the process by electing the first Asian and African-American female.”
He seconds Cole’s beliefs. He fully expects all of Mississippi’s delegates will back Harris.
Clark believes Harris will further policies initiated by Biden while benefiting the diverse working-class folks that make up the U.S.
“I don’t think it matters who the Democrats put at the top of their ticket,” said Mississippi Republican Chairman Mike Hearst. “Because at the end of the day, their policies haven’t changed and their policies have run our country into the ground.”
To him, Harris presents a new and more outwardly competent name and face, but otherwise the same opponent. He questions why Biden wouldn’t resign now but would drop out of the race under the principle that he isn’t fit to run the country.
Democratic county chair of Hancock County Bruce Northridge said the 81-year-old president should be owed some respect, from both sides of the political aisle, on account of his age.
“He’s gone from one of the youngest senators to the oldest candidate for president. We want to respect our elders. It’s one of the toughest jobs in the world.”
