Kansas democrats rallying behind Kamala Harris

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Kansas Democrats are rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden's decision to drop out of the presidential race.

Delegates voted to endorse Harris on Monday as she works to rake in delegates ahead of the convention next month.

Even with President Biden choosing to endorse his vice president, the party is still in limbo for the time being. Political Science professor Bill Fiander said you need to watch where the money goes.

"We assume that his endorsement of Harris will release not just delegates but also doners that will fill the need for a new campaign with Harris," Fiander said.

With Harris now launching her campaign to win over delegates across the United States, Kansas democrats are already pledging their support.

"I think they believe she's the one for the job," Kansas Democratic delegate Ty Dragoo said. "Otherwise you'd see a bunch of chaos, and I'm not really seeing that. I'm seeing inside the party a unified message that she's going to be the nominee."

Right now, there are nearly 4,000 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
Harris needs 1,976 of to them to vote for her to get on the ticket.

"I think there's a silver lining by the democrats and the presidents team moving the debate up as early as they did," Fiander said. "If they would have waited normally to have that debate after the conventions, it would of been much much too late to begin fundraising and switching campaign staffs, they would have gotten a really late start."

Although, Biden's decision to endorse Harris is not a binding one. Delegates released by the president will be able to vote for any candidate they choose. A majority of the delegates will need to support one candidate on the first vote. If that doesn't happen, a second round of voting would occur, with superdelegates, who aren't pledged to any candidate, also becoming involved in the process at that time.

Once a candidate secures a majority of the delegates' votes they will become the nominee. The Democratic National Convention is less than a month away on Monday, Aug. 19.

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