First of two parts.
When Vice President Kamala Harris stopped in Fayetteville Thursday, her campaign appearance touched on President Joe Biden’s accomplishments in the White House.
Her remarks also focused in part on reproductive rights, Social Security and Medicaid benefits, student loan debt, clean energy investments, and critiques of former President Donald Trump’s chosen vice president nominee and Republican senator from Ohio, J.D. Vance.
A good deal of her campaign stop, however, also focused on support for the U.S. military. Fort Liberty, the country’s largest military installation by population, is located in Cumberland County.
In her remarks, Harris described this election as the “most existential, consequential, and important election of our lifetime.” Throughout the afternoon, rally-goers proudly held Biden-Harris signs, and erupted in cheers of “four more years.”
There was no way of knowing then that Harris stood a good chance of being atop the ticket come November. And Gov. Roy Cooper — who also spoke at the Fayetteville rally — could well have his name there, too.
On Sunday, Harris said she would vie for the nomination after being endorsed by Biden, who just an hour before announced he’d step down as the Democratic candidate for president. His decision — made after his repeated pledges to stay in the race — came after call after call from Democratic party leaders and lawmakers over concerns about his health and ability to beat Trump in November. Republicans also have asked for Biden to step down as president since announcing he won’t run again.
“I am honored to have the president’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said Sunday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”
Describing picking Harris as his VP as the “best decision I’ve made,” Biden endorsed Harris as his successor.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” he said in a statement on X.
Endorsements from Democratic party leaders for Harris piled up throughout Sunday as well, though not all immediately backed her. For example, while former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Harris, former President Barack Obama stopped short of doing so Sunday.
The Democratic Party Committee has also not yet endorsed Harris or any other potential nominee, with DNC Chairperson Jamie Harrison stating there will be “a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November.”
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. It’s still unclear how the convention’s nominee process will work. In one option, the DNC could vote on a new nominee in early August, effectively locking in a candidate before the DNC. The other option would be to have an “open convention,” with delegates voting at the convention on a pool of nominees.
Could Cooper be Harris’ VP?
The possibility of Cooper as Harris’ running mate has been floated since Biden’s poor debate performance last month cast doubt on his re-election prospects. In Fayetteville on Thursday, Harris and Cooper presented a united front; they touched on similar issues, spoke about a pressing threat to democracy, and, notably, shared a sense of camaraderie in their separate speeches.
Harris described Cooper as a “dear friend” when she spoke.
“It is so good to be back with so many incredible leaders, including my dear friend Roy Cooper,” Harris said. “Roy and I served together when I was attorney general of California, and he was attorney general of North Carolina. I’ve known him for almost two decades. And he is an extraordinary leader.”
Cooper was attorney general of North Carolina from 2001 to 2017, while Harris served as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017.
In his remarks, Cooper also emphasized their past work together as prosecutors.
“I’ve known Kamala Harris for more than 12 years, going back to our days as state attorneys general together,” Cooper said. “I know she’s a fighter. I know that she gets the job done.”
Rally-goers on Thursday also hinted at enthusiasm for a Harris-Cooper ticket.
“Yeah, I’m thinking Harris-Cooper,” Michelle Scherr, who said she had traveled three hours from Alleghany County to attend, told CityView. “Just saying.”
Scherr noted that Cooper “had fire” in his speech — the kind that the Democratic party sorely needs, party members, particularly young Democrats, have said.
“Somebody needs to excite this party,” Scherr said. “Somebody needs to excite young people.”
On Sunday, in a statement made after Biden’s withdrawal, Cooper didn’t indicate whether he had political aspirations to run alongside Harris.
“President Biden has cemented his place among our nation’s finest Presidents,” Cooper said. “When our democracy faced danger, President Biden stood strong as the rarest type of leader who could help us forge ahead with a vision to repair our country’s soul.”
Cooper remains a popular governor, with an approval rating of 52% in April, WRAL reported. Despite North Carolina voting for the Republican presidential nominee in the past three elections, Cooper successfully won his past six state elections — four for attorney general and two for governor. In six of the last 10 elections, the state has voted for a Republican president and a Democratic governor.
COMING IN PART 2: An emphasis on the military vote
