HOUSTON — Vice President Kamala Harris spoke for the first time since President Joe Biden exited the 2024 presidential race.
Harris spoke on the South Lawn Monday to celebrate NCAA Sports Day at the White House. The Texas Longhorns volleyball team was among those honored following their back-to-back national championship wins.
This was our first chance to hear from her since Biden’s historic announcement on Sunday.
Here is what the vice president had to say.
Of course, it's not a straight path to the top of the ticket because Harris will need to win the nomination in her party.
With the way the rules are set up, delegates at the Democratic National Convention decide the presidential nominee and delegates are assigned to vote for a candidate based on the results of their state’s primary election.
Experts say this means delegates could be released from their obligations if the candidate they're assigned to drops out.
There's no rule that says delegates would automatically be bound to some other candidate which means, no, Harris will not automatically become the nominee.
Instead, all of the nearly 4,000 Biden delegates will be allowed to cast their vote for anyone they want. This is called a brokered convention and it's how nominees used to be decided until primaries became the norm.
The delegates will vote over and over until someone wins a majority. It's a process that historically involves a lot of chaos and backroom deals.
The committee tasked with finding a new presidential candidate for the Democratic Party is expected to meet on Wednesday.