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Kamala Harris Earns Enough Votes to Become Democratic Nominee; Harris Set to Choose Running Mate. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 02, 2024 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:00:52]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Thanks so much for joining us on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. I'm Boris Sanchez, alongside Brianna Keilar.

And we are just 95 days away from Election Day. And Kamala Harris' campaign is full steam ahead. The next few days will be critical, as the vice president prepares to make one of the most important decisions of her political career, choosing a running mate.

Sources tell CNN that Harris is going to be meeting with her V.P. finalists this weekend before making the big announcement ahead of a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And in the latest sign of just how energized the Democratic Party is right now, the Harris campaign is celebrating what they're hailing as the best grassroots fund-raising month in presidential history, doubling with the Trump campaign raised in July.

And right now, Democratic delegates are casting their votes as they expect to make Harris the party's official nominee for president. This is the official part before the convention.

So let's bring in our panel of experts, starting with CNN political director David Chalian.

How does this change things? And we have to be clear, I think, about what this moment is. Everyone's ready for the hoopla of the convention, but this is actually what seals the deal and makes it official.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, well, we will see here.

Yes, the delegates are participating starting yesterday morning on a virtual process by which they are casting their official ballots for the nomination. They have several days here to do it. We will see when she reaches that threshold of enough delegates to be 50 percent plus one and therefore may declare the actual nominee of the party.

There will be a ceremonial version of the roll call that everybody has gotten accustomed to seeing at the convention, and that will play out. And everyone, the delegate representative for each state will speak up and offer their state's delegates. But it is this now that will actually make her the official nominee. And one of the reasons why they're doing it, the party,has said, is

because they are concerned about ballot access specifically in the state of Ohio. It's not clear how much that concern should really exist. But this is what the party is saying, is that they want to make sure that their presidential nominee and their vice presidential nominee get on all 50 state ballots and the ballot in the District of Columbia.

And some rules, by doing it so late at the convention in Chicago, may not allow for that. And so they're doing this earlier virtual roll call.

SANCHEZ: Let's bring in CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons to the conversation.

Jamal, you worked for Vice President Harris. Let's take a step back and reflect on what is a historic moment. And it comes four years after she ended her 2020 bid and just 12 days after she entered the 2024 race when President Biden stepped to the side.

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, sorry, Boris. I thought you were going to a package. Never mind.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: No.

SIMMONS: I think the vice president is -- the vice president has had a spectacular career, right? She's been at every level of government. She was a DA, and then she was an attorney general. She was a United States Senator, vice president.

So she's taken the stairstep. I don't know that we have had very many other national candidates who have done jobs at every single level of government like that, from local all the way up to national. So she's got this great record.

And so what's remarkable about this -- obviously, race and gender play a part of this -- is also she's our first presidential -- she could be our first President Trump California since Ronald Reagan. But the country is moving more to the South and to the West, right? We have seen the Sun Belt become more of where our population is.

And we're seeing more women leaders take leadership around the country, whether Democrat or Republican. We're seeing that. We're also seeing more educated Americans who are started to -- the country's becoming more educated. So in many ways, she's the breath of fresh air from the future and is thinking about what's going to happen in the future.

And I think that background is very appealing to people, which is why I think so many people have rallied to these big phone calls with hundreds of thousands of people and have given $300 million over the course of the last month.

KEILAR: And CNN's M.J. Lee is live for us at the White House. And I will note, M.J., you were there last night at Andrews. You were

lobbing question after question, in fact, as Biden and Harris received the release prisoners. They were side by side. It almost had this kind of passing of the torch feel about it in the wake of what has happened here in the last couple of weeks.

[13:05:07]

How is the White House seeing this day and this week?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think you're absolutely right that there's been that sense of the passing of the torch.

And it has been visible for a number of days now really in the aftermath of President Biden dropping out of the 2024 race himself. And I just think the last 12 days for so many people in the party have been incredibly head-spinning.

You know, among the vice president supporters across the administration, of course, not to mention in the Harris campaign, what used to be the Biden campaign, I do think that there has been just really this air of jubilance. And you can't stress enough what an abrupt shift this has all been for everybody across the party.

Just to take us back, I mean, again, just 12 days ago and for a number of weeks following that CNN debate in late June, the mood within the party was one of such darkness and widespread and deep-set concern and worry confusion about what might happen next.

But the moment that President Biden dropped out of this race, I mean, we have seen with the such sheer speed with which Vice President Harris and the team around her have really worked to basically march towards locking this thing up, whether it is really boosting the confidence within donors, really locking up those endorsements from Democratic elected officials and really boosting the confidence that I think was missing for a while.

And I do think, as you were talking about, Brianna, when we see the vice president and the president out together now, we see these moments where you kind of sense that the vice president is there both in sort of the supporting role, but increasingly stepping into the spotlight in a way that we hadn't seen before.

And we did see a moment like that last night on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews after those three Americans that were freed got off that airplane. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's so much at stake right now in our country and this upcoming election, including who has which approach to understanding America's strength.

This is an example of the strength of American leadership in bringing nations together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: So, obviously, the vice president there talking about the power of diplomacy, the importance of the diplomatic efforts to get to the point that we got to last night and that huge historic agreement.

Expect to see certainly more of that in the coming weeks. I did have an exchange with the president where I was asking him, did the timing of you dropping out of the 2024 race basically put more pressure on you to try to get this deal across the finish line?

The official line from the president and other White House officials has been, no, that had nothing to do with the timing. We were going to try to get this done anyway, but, again, just so many different examples of ways in which we are seeing that passing of the torch, as you said, Brianna, taking place in real time.

SANCHEZ: M.J., please stand by.

Let's bring in Jeff Zeleny to the conversation.

Jeff, in Harris' immediate future are these V.P. contender meetings she is set to hold over the weekend. What are you learning about what that's going to look like?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, we're learning that she's not yet made a decision. And until she makes a decision, this whole process can have as much speculation and reported speculation and discussion as possible.

But, look, she's had a busy week on the road. We have seen her in Georgia and Houston. Now she's back home in Washington. She's at the Naval Observatory, does not have a public schedule. So we're told her private schedule will include really starting to come to a decision here.

And that includes meeting face-to-face with at least some of these candidates on the list, these contenders. And all of these six contenders are not treated equally. I mean, they are -- she may have more of a sense, but more information has been collected on them, particularly Josh Shapiro, for example, from Pennsylvania.

I'm told significant polling has been done and research about how he would affect the race in Pennsylvania and perhaps in other states as well. So this is a decision that, really, it's come together remarkably quickly. We're told that she was not really thinking about this more than a few weeks ago, perhaps even less than that.

But it is a decision that, wow, I mean, going from running mate to picking a running mate of her own, my guess is she has some very fresh thoughts of how she would like to work with someone like this. So I think that's one thing we sometimes overlook. Just what is the exact partnership?

And she's someone who likes to have a vibe with her staff and she likes to have a good personal rapport, a meal, et cetera. So my guess is that, in some of these face-to-face conversations with her and her husband, Doug Emhoff, she may have a meal with some of them. She may have break bread. But she doesn't have longstanding relationships with most of these candidates.

[13:10:00]

Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania, she has a bit of a relationship with, Mark Kelly from Arizona as well. Tim Walz from Minnesota, I'm told, hardly any relationship. So that is kind of going into all this, so feeling out who wants to be her partner here in the most challenging run of her life.

CHALIAN: But will she cook that meal?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: We know she loves to cook.

ZELENY: If it's Sunday, perhaps, because she cooks on Sundays. So, we will see.

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: She loves to cook Sunday dinner. That will be curious if she has to -- do they assess her? Do they like her food? That will be an interesting process.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: What if they cook together?

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Because how they cook in the kitchen could be quite an assessment.

It is giving kind of dating show vibes with how quickly this is going, I will say.

Isaac, you -- as you write -- and you have some excellent reporting on this -- some Jewish Democrats wonder if America is ready for a Jewish vice president, which I think is a headline that should prompt a lot of soul-searching in the Democratic Party, because the fact you write that has other Democrats saying that there are some progressives who are antisemitic, because that is a question that is out there.

Tell us about this internal strife in the party.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, look, most of this is focused on the question about Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, who, as Jeff says is, leading a lot of the speculation about where Harris may go. Of course, J.B. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, also in this process, he's also Jewish. But Shapiro has been outspoken as both a supporter of Israel and a

critic of the campus protests that were there in the spring, saying in some -- that some of them dipped into antisemitism in ways. And that has led to a lot of focus on him, some groups calling him "Genocide Josh," even though he has no foreign policy experience or voting record.

And you can debate whether there is a genocide that's going on there. But it is creating this question of, even among Jewish Democrats, is this the moment to have a Jewish running mate? Is the party going to be too divided over this? That leads to other Jewish Democrats saying, are you kidding?

How can we say that we're going to have a problem with this guy just because he's Jewish, and what does that say about as Democrats as a party if that's where things are?

SANCHEZ: I want to go Molly Ball, because, Molly, Donald Trump has weighed in on this -- we should note she's a senior political correspondent for "The Wall Street Journal."

Molly, Donald Trump just said today that, if Harris picks Shapiro, in his words, who happens to be Jewish, she will lose her little Palestinian base. Trump then went on to say that that base actually prefers him because he will -- quote -- "bring peace to the Middle East, even though I'm very strong for Israel."

How do you think Trump and his team would react to a Josh Shapiro pick for V.P.?

MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": I think they're probably most concerned with what the Democrats are most concerned with, which is winning Pennsylvania. And the most salient characteristic of Josh Shapiro for both campaigns is how popular he is as the governor of Pennsylvania.

Look, I don't think the Democrats are taking advice about who to pick from Trump and his campaign. Certainly, the concerns that Isaac laid out are going to be in the back of their mind.

But then there's also the possibility that it cuts the other way as a signal to swing voters that the Democrats are not captive to that left-wing base that is against what's going on in Gaza and would like to see the administration take a harder line with Israel.

And as Harris looks to reassure swing voters that she is not the wild- eyed progressive she arguably ran as in 2020, that could be helpful to her as well.

So I think all of the candidates she's considering have that potential to appeal to the middle of the electorate. And that, as a national message, in addition to what kind of sway they may have in swing states -- and I don't think any swing state is more important than Pennsylvania -- that, I think, is primarily what both campaigns are attending to, even if Trump has different ideas.

KEILAR: Yes, that is numero uno.

All right, our panel of experts and friends, let's be honest, stay with us, if you will. We have so much more to discuss ahead.

And also ahead this hour: The Dow is plummeting right now after a disappointing jobs report released today. Now concerns that the Federal Reserve waited too long to cut interest rates.

SANCHEZ: And we're standing by for a press conference from the Secret Service. The agency's acting director is going to give more details on their investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:57]

KEILAR: All right, we have some breaking news. Vice President Kamala Harris has now earned enough delegate votes to become the Democratic nominee for president.

So it is officially official ahead of the convention. There will be, of course, all of the fanfare. But this is it. This is the real count.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the DNC chair, Jaime Harrison, announcing that on a call that is going on right now.

We should remind viewers that delegates are actually voting online, and that's how they were able to go through this process before the convention.

Let's go straight to CNN's David Chalian.

David, this is history in the making. I mean, she is breaking a number of barriers, but also part of an unprecedented race for the White House.

CHALIAN: No doubt about it.

So it is the second female Democratic nominee ever in history. It is the first ever woman of color, black woman, South Asian descent woman on the ticket here. Lots of firsts for Kamala Harris. She's very familiar with being first.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

CHALIAN: She's been the first in almost every political job that she's had. And so being first is nothing new to her, but it is part of what -- we are seeing with the Democratic Party.

[13:20:04]

Part of what this 12-day just, like, whiplash speed of coalescing around her is this excitement about -- inside the party about what she represents, what she brings to the ticket. And part of that is also her age, guys.

I mean, she -- in the switch from Biden to Harris, you lost 20 years or more on the ticket. And that was the biggest concern voters had and Democrats had about Joe Biden's candidacy. And that got erased in a moment.

Add in all these other sort of firsts. You see it in the fund-raising, you see it in the organization sign-ups of people wanting to participate. And you just saw it with the speed with which anyone else who was even considering this in those weeks of like, hey, Joe Biden may not be there, is there an opening here for me, I mean, within hours, you recall, they were endorsing Kamala Harris.

So this is a sort of a culmination of what has just been a...

KEILAR: Actually, I think...

CHALIAN: Oh, sorry.

KEILAR: ... Harris is speaking. I'm so sorry, David.

CHALIAN: Sure. No problem.

KEILAR: Harris is speaking now on the call.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... for everything that you are doing.

And to everyone on the call, thank you for your hard work and all you have been doing over these last many, many, many months. And I know that we are excited about the future, but we also know that we got a lot of work to get there, and we have a lot of work to do. It's good work. We like hard work.

And I just want to thank everyone for joining this call.

Listen, I think we all approach our campaign with the same spirit, including that this is truly a people-powered campaign. And I would not be on this call right now and with you all were it not for your support and your trust, for which I am deeply grateful.

I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States. And I will tell you, the tireless work of our delegates, our state leaders and staff has been pivotal in making this moment possible.

And your dedication cannot be overstated, your dedication to our country. I know we all feel this way so strongly. We love our country. We believe in the promise of America. And that's what this campaign is about. So, of course, I will officially accept your nomination next week, once the virtual voting period is closed.

But, already, I'm happy to know that we have enough delegates to secure the nomination. And later this month, we will gather in Chicago, united as one party, where we're going to have an opportunity to celebrate this historic moment together.

And, again, this campaign is about all of us coming together, people coming together from every walk of life, every lived experience, and being fueled by our love of country, knowing that we are prepared to fight for the best of who we are.

We believe in the promise of America, a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice not just for some, but for all. And, ultimately, in this election, you all have heard me say many times, we each face the question, what kind of country do we want to live in?

Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear, and hate? And the beauty of our democracy is we each, every one of us, has the power to answer that question.

And that is why I say and know the power is with the people. So here's the bottom line. I say to all the friends on the call, we are going to win this election. And it is going to take all of us, whether it is making calls, connecting with our communities, engaging online, or even talking with people where we go every day, whether it be to the grocery store or our church.

We are going to talk with people about the fact that we are all in this together, and we stand together. And so let's let folks know that our campaign is about the future, and it's about an expansion of rights and freedoms and for the opportunity of everyone to not just get by, but to get ahead.

So, November 5, November 5 is 95 days away. And North Carolina, for everyone there, you're kicking us off with absentee ballots that are being sent in just 35 days. So, we are -- we are in this, everyone. We are in this. We are on the road.

And it's not going to be easy, but we're going to get this done. And as your future president, I know we are up to this fight. And when we fight, everyone will say in unison, we win.

So, thank you, everyone. Please take care. And I can't wait to see you in Chicago. And thank you again, Jaime.

SANCHEZ: We have been listening to Vice President Kamala Harris accepting the presumptive presidential nomination for the Democratic Party, obviously, a historic moment.

[13:25:07]

She becomes the first black woman and the first Asian American to lead a major-party ballot. She said on the call that she was excited about the future, but she emphasized this multiple times. There's a lot of work to do. It's not going to be easy. She said she was looking forward to the convention to celebrate as one party.

David, we will go back to you.

Part of the reason that they're doing this digitally is because there was a moment where Democrats feared they may have a bit of a snafu at the convention.

CHALIAN: Yes, specifically, in Ohio, the Republican legislators there were saying they weren't going to sort of give a waiver, given that the convention is slated to happen after their deadline.

But Governor DeWine changed that, signed a law, and it's not really a threat. Nonetheless, they stuck with their plan. We saw this, by the way, in the pandemic four years ago. They also did a virtual vote like this. We should note, she didn't say she was accepting it on this call. What was announced here by DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison is that she has secured enough delegates to be the Democratic nominee.

She hit over that 50 percent plus one threshold, but the voting is still open. And so delegates are still getting in their ballots, and so she clearly wanted to not shut that off and allow more time and said that, when the voting period comes to a close, then she would formally accept the nomination.

Of course, we will see her publicly in a grand fashion accept the nomination when she delivers that speech in Chicago.

DOVERE: No one is running against her.

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: Correct.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I'm taking a look at the delegate ballot, the official ballot. It's Kamala D. Harris or present. So there you go. That's what it was.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: And, listen, despite her referring to herself as the presumptive nominee and emphasizing that it's going to be at the convention, the Democratic Party and Kamala Harris, they just got married.

Maybe the wedding is in two weeks and change, but, like, it's done.

ZELENY: Right.

KEILAR: It is signed. It's official. They have made her the nominee with this. She's over the threshold. It's official.

I wonder, in your reporting, as you're talking to voters, if there's any sensitivity, as we did think at one time there might be, to this idea of a coronation in what has also given the Democrats kind of an orderly transition to Kamala Harris.

ZELENY: I was in Michigan this week talking to a lot of voters and there was no talk of a coronation, even among Joe Biden superfans. And the reason for that is Donald Trump.

KEILAR: No bother -- no bother of it. Interesting.

ZELENY: He has absolutely unified -- yes, he's unified the Democratic Party.

So one of the reasons that this roll call vote is happening virtually, yes, as David said, the Ohio thing, but there also was some concern about the potential for some challenges in Chicago from the uncommitted movement that we saw earlier this year, perhaps from some people challenging Joe Biden.

What is happening now is, Democrats look more like Republicans in Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago. They seem unified, which is not normally how this party has been, certainly in terms of policy and things,.But I have not really picked up any whiff of talk of coronation, privately perhaps by some people who might have thrown their hat in the ring.

But, as Isaac said, there's no one else on the ballot. That happened in an instant that Sunday. And we are less than two weeks since -- two weeks ago today, we were heading to the weekend. Joe Biden was still running and we weren't sure if he was getting out. Now look at this.

DOVERE: Yes, look, the other thing going on here which is, I think, important to the Democratic psychology is, it was almost a month of Democrats feeling more and more depressed about their standing with Joe Biden.

And, really, I had to go back to a number of sources who all gave me the same quote about being despondent, the same word. I said, how else would you describe your feeling? It was like a thesaurus of all the bad words to describe themselves.

Harris bounced off of that and she is still riding that good psychic energy that is there. And I think also people who were concerned about Joe Biden's health and age, but weren't fully admitting it even to themselves, are looking at Harris and the way that she has at least so far been a much more energetic presence on stage.

One person said to me: "I can't believe how much a relief it is to not think of -- to not worry about Joe Biden falling off the stage every time I'm looking at an event." That was a high-placed Democratic operative who said that to me.

So all of that is playing out to Harris' benefit here. We will see. This has been not even two weeks of her as a candidate, as Jeff said. There are 95 days to go. What the Harris campaign is trying to do here is keep the sugar high going by keeping injecting sugar into the system. So this was today.

We will at the beginning of next week have the choice of a running mate. Then they're going to do this battleground state blitz over the week following, and then there will be a couple of other things in the week between them and the convention, and then the convention.

And that's the goal here, is to just keep this era of good feelings going for Kamala Harris. SANCHEZ: I'm curious to get perspective from Jamal Simmons, because,

Jamal, as the Democrat on our panel, you have been riding that wave from the nadir post-debate with Joe Biden to what appears to be a unified party looking forward to the convention, polling pretty close to Donald Trump in key swing states.