Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris, giving her expected but crucial support
Former US President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris in her White House bid, giving the vice president the expected but still crucial backing of the nation's two most popular Democrats.
The endorsement, announced on Friday morning in a video showing Harris accepting a joint phone call from the former first couple, comes as Harris continues to build momentum as the party's likely nominee after US President Joe Biden's decision to end his re-election bid and endorse his second-in-command against Republican nominee and former US President Donald Trump.
It also highlights the friendship and potentially historic link between the nation's first Black president and the first woman, first Black woman and first person of Asian descent to serve as vice president, who is now vying to break those same barriers at the presidential rank.
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Former US President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris share a moment during an event on the Affordable Care Act and lowering health care costs for families in the East Room of The White House on Tuesday April 5, 2022 The Washington Post via Getty Im
"We called to say Michelle and I couldn't be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office," the former president told Harris, who is shown taking the call as she walks backstage at an event, trailed by a Secret Service agent.
Michelle Obama added: "I can't have this phone call without saying to my girl, Kamala, I am proud of you.
"This is going to be historic."
Harris, who has known the Obamas since before his election in 2008, thanked them for their friendship and said she looks forward to "getting there, being on the road" with them in the three-month blitz before Election Day on November 5.
"We're gonna have some fun with this too, aren't we?" Harris said.
The Obamas are perhaps the last major party figures to endorse Harris formally — a reflection of the former president's desire to remain, at least publicly, a party elder operating above the fray.
The Obamas remain prodigious fundraising draws and popular surrogates at large campaign events for Democratic candidates.
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FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2019, file photo, then-Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., reacts as she speaks at a town hall event at the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas. Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden has chosen Harris as his running mate. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) AP
According to an Associated Press survey, Harris already has secured the public support of a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which begins August 19 in Chicago.
The Democratic National Committee expects to hold a virtual nominating vote that would, by August 7, make Harris and a yet-to-be-named running mate the official Democratic ticket.
Biden endorsed Harris within an hour of announcing his decision last Sunday to end his campaign amid widespread concern about the 81-year-old president's ability to defeat Trump.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed in the days after.
The Obamas, however, trod carefully as Harris secured the delegate commitments, made the rounds among core Democratic constituencies and raised more than $US120 million ($183 million).
The public caution tracks how the former president handled the weeks between Biden's debate debacle against Trump and the president's eventual decision to end his campaign: Obama was a certain presence in the party's maneuvers but he operated quietly.
FILE - President Joe Biden, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris stand on stage at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. She's already broken barriers, and now Harris could soon become the first Black woman to head a major party's presidential ticket after President Joe Biden's ended his reelection bid. The 59-year-old Harris was endorsed by Biden on Sunday, July 21, 2024, after he stepped aside amid widespread concerns about the viability of his cand AP
Barack Obama's initial statement after Biden's announcement did not mention Harris. Instead, he spoke generically about coming up with a nominee to succeed Biden: "I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges," the former president wrote.
Both Obamas campaigned separately for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, including large rallies on the closing weekends before Election Day.
They delivered key speeches at the Democrats' convention in 2020, a virtual event because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The former president's speech was especially notable because he unveiled a full-throated attack on Trump as a threat to democracy, an argument that endures as part of Harris' campaign.
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