By HAILEY GOMEZ
A former co-chair for Kamala Harris’ 2020 primary campaign expressed his excitement about the vice president potentially stepping in as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee on Sunday.
CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers appeared on “CNN Newsroom With Fredricka Whitfield” to discuss Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. As the CNN commentator called the announcement from Biden “extraordinary” before praising the president’s political career, Sellers went on to discuss his “excitement” around Harris as the potential nominee.
“Let me just tell you, as a Democrat, somebody I was national co-chair for Kamala Harris for president. We’re so damn excited now. My phone is blowing up, is going crazy. I think there’s a lot of excitement, a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion. But at the end of the day, Democrats will have Kamala Harris and a long list of others, possible VP individuals, taking on J.D. Vance and Donald Trump and we stand a fair chance,” Sellers said.
Prior to Sellers excitement, the former Harris campaign co-chair detailed a meeting with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) last week, stating they had set “forth the rules and parameters” for the upcoming convention in August, noting all delegates will be credentialed soon.
“I think that there will be efforts in place and things in place to help ensure that the vice president of the United States is able to drop into this campaign that has already up and running [and] has cash. I think you‘re going to see a boost or a boom in donations over the next couple of days. I don‘t see this open primary that people are dreaming of, or warning of, or eliminating the entire ticket,” Sellers said.
“Last but not least, I think it‘s pretty clear to Elise Stefanik and others, my response and my retort and I expect the vice president and others to echo the same thing is that Joe Biden made it clear and conscious decision that he cannot lead the country for the next four years,” Sellers continued. “That does not mean that he cannot lead us for the next four months. He‘s been a noble leader up until this point. He will end his administration with a bang and do the work of the people for the next four months. But he made the very consequential decision that serving the next four years was something out of the realm of possibility for him to do and he wanted to turn over that to Kamala Harris.”
Biden released his withdrawal from the 2024 race within a letter posted to X (formerly known as Twitter), stating that he believes it would not only be best for the Democratic Party, but for the country if he dropped his reelection bid and instead focused on the remainder of his presidency. The announcement from the president comes after weeks of backlash from lawmakers within his own party as over 30 publicly vocalized their dissatisfaction with Biden remaining as the nominee.
However, calls from within Washington D.C. were not the only ones asking for Biden to step down from the race. A recent poll conducted by AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 7 in 10 adults, including 65% of Democrats, said Biden should withdraw from the race and allow the party to select another nominee. The dissatisfaction from Democrats over Biden jumped ten points, from 38% to 48% of Democrats no longer approving of Biden over the last month, according to the data.
While some lawmakers and influential Democrats have come forward to endorse the vice president as the next Democratic nominee, others such as former President Barack Obama have notably denied handing out an endorsement and instead called for a “process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
(Featured image credit: Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
