Many of New Jersey’s Democratic leaders reacted in unison in welcoming Vice President Kamala Harris as the next Democratic nominee for president.
“I’m excited, I’m excited for the country that we have a strong candidate again,” said U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th). She joined New Jersey’s congressional Democrats in praising President Joe Biden’s historic decision Sunday to exit the race. Most also promised to follow the president’s lead and support Harris at the top of their party’s ticket.
The move shifted Biden’s campaign organization and war chest to Harris, and it will galvanize voters whose support for reelecting the president had slipped in the polls, said LeRoy Jones, the head of New Jersey’s Democratic State Committee.
“With Vice President Harris, I think that will recalibrate that level of enthusiasm, and you’re going to see African-Americans energized,” he said. “You’re going to see women energized. . . you’re going see South Asians energized.”
Watson Coleman said she is delighted to see the first woman of color lead her party’s campaign for the Oval Office, and hailed Harris as a champion for reproductive rights. She also said some grassroots party loyalists weren’t happy about behind-the-scenes power play to push Biden out.
Some analysts said there was no other way.
“Time was short,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics. “You were facing a guy who didn’t want to have these conversations. So it was a hard thing to do. It was an unseemly, probably very uncomfortable thing to do. But those conversations needed to happen.”
Biden’s exit restored a gusher of campaign cash. Democrats raised more than $50 million Sunday — the biggest one-day haul ever online — with $150 million more pledged from major donors.
A big question next is whom might Harris select as a running mate if she is nominated. News media floated a long list of potential names, including New Jersey’s own U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and Gov. Phil Murphy.
And what’s next for Joe Biden? He posted on X that he’s decided “to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Republicans fumed, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling on Biden to step down. “If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately,” said Johnson (R-LA.)
Harris faces a very short runway to the nomination. In a meeting called by Jones, around 130 New Jersey delegates who had pledged to back Biden will meet Monday night to discuss their next steps.
