With the Democratic National Convention less than a month away and incumbent President Joe Biden now out of the presidential race, Democrats are scrambling to find a new nominee.
After announcing Sunday that he was ending his campaign, President Biden immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination, something she quickly welcomed and began solidifying campaign plans.
Areva Martin is a party delegate for the state of California. She told Scripps News that Democrats are already "coalescent" around Harris and her ability to lead the party forward.
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"I have already been in contact with the head of the California Democratic Party and I know there are efforts afoot already for delegates across this country to pledge their support to Kamala Harris, so that even before we step foot in that convention hall in Chicago, the determination has already been made," Martin told Scripps News. "I suspect that we're going to have a virtual vote. It was already planned to do so for Joe Biden. My expectation is that that virtual vote will continue and that we will have already selected our nominee before the August convention begins."
Some delegates who will decide the next Democratic nominee have also already begun pledging their support for Harris. According to Decision Desk HQ, Harris has secured 964 delegates, giving her close to half of the delegates she would need to win the party's nomination.
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However, the timing of all of these changes in the Democratic party is important. The November election is now just over 100 days away. Martin said that's why she "can't emphasize enough" that Democrats need to unite behind a candidate quickly.
"This does need to happen quickly because we're not just talking about November 6th as the election day," Martin added. "As we all know, absentee ballots, voting absentee by mail starts to happen earlier, much earlier than November. Some states start to mail out their ballot in September. So we aren't working with a full 100-plus days."
So far, nobody on the Democratic side has emerged as an opponent to Harris for the nomination, despite some speculation that someone like West Virginia Independent Sen. Joe Manchin could re-register as a Democrat and make a run. Manchin shot down those reports on Monday, but did tell CBS that he'd like to see a "mini-primary" to decide who the Democratic nominee would be.
"No one else is willing to speak up, we're just going to follow behind," Manchin said. "I am sorry, I don't agree with that. There are many things we need to discuss."
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While Martin says that while everything points to Harris being the nominee, she's not opposed to the idea of having other candidates jump in the race.
"If Joe Manchin wants to jump into this big tent and, you know, state that he wants to run, he has the right to do so," Martin said. "We encourage anyone that wants to do so to do so. But the reality is Kamala Harris — by all accounts, by all indications — is going to be the presumptive nominee, is the presumptive nominee, and will be the nominee that is selected."
