Pennsylvania delegates vote unanimously to endorse Kamala Harris for president

Pennsylvania Democrats are all in for Kamala Harris.

The state’s 159 delegates to the Democratic National Convention unanimously voted Monday to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee in the high-stakes November contest with former President Donald Trump.

In a vote on Zoom conducted Monday afternoon, after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, delegates cast a voice vote to back Harris and then recorded those tallies individually.

The move underscores the lightning-speed effort by the party to coalesce around Harris after Biden endorsed her on Sunday.

Just hours later Harris was giving the first speech of her presidential campaign in Wilmington Monday evening, where she promised to “unite our Democratic Party, unite our nation and to win this election.”

Biden called into the event, his voice hoarse as he recovers from COVID-19, but cheerful.

“The name has changed at the top of the ticket but the mission hasn’t changed at all” the president said. " … I’m going to be working like hell both as a sitting president getting legislation passed, as well as campaigning.”

Less than 24 hours after Biden endorsed her, Harris had the support of all nine Democrats who represent Pennsylvania in the House and both of its Democratic senators. And Harris’ campaign started getting in touch with state parties, including Pennsylvania’s, to ensure party procedures were followed with just a month until the Chicago Convention.

Pennsylvania’s delegation followed Tennessee’s and North Carolina’s in taking a unanimous vote to endorse Harris this week. In private meetings and in public comments, several Pennsylvania delegates also promoted Gov. Josh Shapiro as the best choice to be Harris’ running mate, given Pennsylvania’s critical role in the upcoming election.

“We sense the urgency of this moment,” said the Rev. Mark Tyler, a delegate from Philadelphia. “This is on the one hand a wonderful opportunity to help make history once again, but it’s also about protecting democracy.”

The Democratic National Committee, which is slated to meet on Wednesday, hasn’t adopted rules for the unprecedented scenario of the presumptive nominee exiting the race so late in the campaign.

But state party chair Sharif Street said he believes that the Pennsylvania delegation’s vote Monday means that 159 pledged delegates from Pennsylvania can be added to Harris’ tally toward becoming the party’s presumptive nominee.

Those votes would likely formally be cast next month at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. As of Monday afternoon, Harris already had about 850 pledged delegates on her way to the 1,976 needed to clinch the nomination.

The electronic vote creates a record of pledged delegates, which Harris’ campaign said would be helpful, Street said.

Street said he was not concerned about moving too quickly after Biden exited the race or that the early vote could prevent delegates from backing other candidates who could come later. As evidenced by the results, he said, “everyone is very excited to support Vice President Harris.”

But Republicans were quick to argue that delegations gathering for emergency Zoom votes to decide the party nominee felt antidemocratic.

“Sixteen million voters across the country are now being told that their votes for President Biden no longer count,” said Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Republican who has campaigned with Trump.

“It is clear that Vice President Harris is not well-liked among Democrats given how she performed in her short-lived presidential campaign, and now she is being forced on the voters in a closed process run by party bosses.”

And pro-Trump groups went up with ads immediately to test early messaging against Harris. A TV spot from the pro-Trump group MAGA Inc., started airing in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada on Monday, blaming Harris for an unsecured border and inflation.

“Look what she’s got done: a border invasion, runaway inflation, the American dream dead,” the ad says.

Democratic delegates backing Harris called her a needed jolt of enthusiasm for a party that is well-equipped to win in Pennsylvania.

Tyler called it a tremendous opportunity to make history.

“The joy I see in the face of my wife, my daughters, members of my congregation, and my community, is priceless right now and I’m gonna do everything that I can do to make sure that it’s not just that kind of joy during a campaign season but that they can enjoy four to eight years later,” he said.

Roseanne Milazzo, a delegate from Montgomery County, predicted earlier in the day that a woman at the top of the ticket in November would galvanize her party’s base.

”Women have been so disappointed by the Supreme Court decision and the threat of all the abortion bans,” said Milazzo, a retired teacher and West Norriton Township commissioner. “Women will come out and support Kamala Harris. She has the best chance of winning.”

Marian Moskowitz, vice chair of the Chester County Commissioners and a DNC delegate for the 6th Congressional District, called Harris a tireless advocate for women, minorities, small businesses, and workers’ rights. “Her leadership alongside President Biden during challenging times has been nothing short of inspiring.”

Moskowitz said she was particularly excited about Harris bringing “a fresh, female perspective to our highest office.”

Several delegates, including Moskowitz, Milazzo, and Tyler brought up Shapiro as the person they hope Harris picks as her running mate.

Shapiro, swarmed by national media at a news conference on Monday, said Harris will make the “deeply personal decision” of choosing her running mate dependent on whom she wants to govern and campaign with.

”President Biden has often remarked that one of the most important decisions he had to make was selecting a vice president, and in that he has selected Vice President Harris,” Shapiro said.

“That decision should be made really free from any political pressure,” he added.

Shapiro refused to say whether he’s interested in the role, but highlighted the commonalities between him and Harris. They are both former prosecutors who have known each other for nearly 20 years, he said.

Nearly every Democratic political contender endorsed Harris within 24 hours of Biden’s endorsement, including Shapiro, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who played a key role in persuading Biden to step down from the ticket, also threw her support behind Harris on Monday.

Early speculation that Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia independent and former Democrat, could change his party registration and make a run was put to rest when Manchin said Monday he was not running for office.

That’s turned the attention to whom Harris could pick as a running mate and in Pennsylvania, ongoing buzz for Shapiro.

In two separate meetings on Monday Pennsylvania’s Democratic executive committee and its contingent of county and regional chairs also voted to formally endorse Harris.

Shapiro was on the call with county chairs and gave a full-throated endorsement of Harris, according to people on the call.

Philadelphia Democratic chairman Bob Brady then issued a rallying cry for the party leaders to promote Shapiro as the vice presidential pick.

“Josh is our guy,” Brady said on the call, stressing: “We win Pennsylvania with him.”

Chairs from Montgomery, Blair, Westmoreland, and Crawford Counties all indicated they would advocate for the former attorney general and Abington native to join the ticket.

Harris, who is inheriting much of the staff and campaign infrastructure, made her first campaign appearance in Wilmington on Monday afternoon where she was greeted with loud cheers.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights, but we believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans,” she told campaign staffers.

The headquarters was covered in signs that read “Harris for President,” “Restore Roe” and “Kamala.” One wall was still papered in the “Biden-Harris” campaign logo.

As she adopts Biden’s staffers — she announced Monday she’d keep on campaign managers Jen O’Malley Dillon and Julie Chavez Rodriguez — she’ll also have the benefit of Biden’s quarter-of-a-billion dollar campaign war chest.

The Harris campaign reported adding $81 million to that total in the last 24 hours.

In her remarks Monday Harris touted her career as a prosecutor saying she’d taken on abusers, cheaters, and fraudsters in a line the crowd of staffers seemed ready to cheer for: “I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said.

Harris also commended Biden who she stressed “is not done.”

“I am a firsthand witness from being with him in the Oval Office to the situation room and seeing him on the world stage. … Joe Biden fights for the American people and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.”

The vice president then paused to see if Biden was still on the call.

“I’m watching,” Biden said. “You’re the best, kid.”

Staff writers Jesse Bunch and Aliya Schneider contributed to this article.