CBS News’ Margaret Brennan said her sources warned her it would be “political suicide” for another Democrat to challenge Vice President Harris for the party nomination.
President Biden announced he would be withdrawing from the race on Sunday and quickly endorsed Harris to be his replacement. Brennan was responding to her colleague Robert Costa on CBS News, who said that his sources told him that they do not believe Democrats will challenge Harris at the Democratic National Convention next month.
Brennan said her reporting has suggested the same.
“My sources agree with yours in terms of not seeing a head to head challenger. But the question then becomes who is the person who stands beside her August 19th at that Democratic convention to seek the nomination in that Vice President role. That’s where the focus is,” she said on CBS.
“Anyone, I was told, looking to challenge her would be committing political suicide to try to go head-to-head after Joe Biden had been so key in making it very clear, just within minutes of announcing he was not going to seek reelection, that he was endorsing her,” she continued.
In the hours since Biden announced his decision to drop out of the race, Democrats have started to rally around Harris as the party nominee. ActBlue, a major Democratic online fundraising platform, said small-dollar donors raised nearly $47 million since Harris launched her campaign.
The Democrats are slated to start the convention on Aug. 19, and Harris, would need to earn the support of the nearly 3,900 delegates who have pledged their support to Biden during the primary. Some Democrats have suggested that there be an open convention to choose their nominee, but many have already thrown their support behind Harris.
Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said that the party will go forward with selecting a nominee this week.
“In the coming days, the Party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November,” he said. “This process will be governed by established rules and procedures of the Party. Our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility in swiftly delivering a candidate to the American people.”
