Kamala Harris to be sole Democratic presidential candidate heading into official party vote

Vice President Kamala Harris is the only White House hopeful who has qualified to compete for the Democratic presidential nomination, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a statement on July 30.

Although no other major Democrat had indicated any plans to challenge Ms. Harris, the DNC’s announcement officially cleared the path for the Vice President to seek her party’s nomination uncontested, just nine days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and created a vacancy at the top of the ticket.

“Harris will now face a vote by the party’s national convention delegates, who will officially ratify the nominee in a new online voting procedure adopted by the party last week. Voting will begin Thursday and will conclude on August 5,” the release said. Votes for anyone other than Ms. Harris will be tallied as “present.” According to an Associated Press survey, Ms. Harris was the overwhelming choice of convention delegates to replace Mr. Biden as the party’s standard-bearer and face Republican former President Donald Trump on the ballot in November.