Kamala Harris Wins Support of Top Democrats After Biden Exits Race
Several prominent Democrats have thrown their weights behind Joe Biden by supporting Vice-President Kamala Harris as the party's new presidential candidate. President Biden announced his withdrawal from the November election on Sunday, following weeks of mounting pressure to step aside.
Biden's announcement that he has withdrawn as a candidate comes with just over 100 days left before Americans go to the polls - with a number of key events to look out for before then.
Some of his closest aides were given only one minute's notice of his decision. Harris has stated she plans to "earn and win" the nomination. Since Biden's withdrawal, the Democrats have seen a significant increase in public donations. Biden will serve out the remainder of his term, but Donald Trump has remarked, "if he can't run for office, he can't run our country."
Biden is however set to address the nation following his announcement. The Democratic National Convention’s rules committee are also set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the process for picking a new candidate.
The matter of finalising a candidate will take place at the the four-day Democratic National Convention which runs in Chicago from 19 to 22 August.
During the event, Democratic Party delegates from each state and US territory will officially nominate the Democratic presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
The presidential election will then take place on 5 November. You can read a simple guide to the election here.
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris' presidential campaign has raised more than $49.6m (£38.3m) since President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid.
"Since the president endorsed Vice-President Harris yesterday afternoon, everyday Americans have given $49.6 million in grassroots donations to her campaign," a spokesperson for Biden says.
As we reported earlier, thousands of black women across the US joined a Zoom call on Sunday night to throw their support behind Harris.
Win With Black Women, the group behind the call, says it raised over $1.5m (£1.2m) in three hours for the campaign.
