2024 election updates: Kamala Harris gives first campaign speech in Wisc. after securing delegates needed for Democratic nomination

Harris will deliver a keynote speech in Houston on Thursday at the American Federation of Teachers national convention, the White House confirmed Tuesday. The AFT is the country's largest teachers union, with 1.7 million members; its 3,500 delegates voted to endorse Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee on Monday.

This will be one of Harris's first stops on the campaign trail after Biden dropped out on Sunday.

President Biden returned to the White House on Tuesday from his home in Delaware, where he was recovering in isolation from COVID-19.

It was the first time Biden was seen in public since dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

Before boarding Air Force One in Delaware, Biden told reporters he's "feeling well."

After landing in Washington, D.C., Biden was asked about what he plans to tell the nation in his primetime address scheduled for Wednesday night.

“Watch and listen," he replied. "Why don't you wait and hear what I say?"

Harris concluded the first official rally of her presidential campaign with a call-and-response urging voters in Milwaukee to mobilize for an election that she reminded voters was 105 days away.

"So, Wisconsin, I ask you, are you ready to get to work?" she asked.

"Do we believe in freedom?

"Do we believe in opportunity?

"Do we believe in the promise of America?

"And are we ready to fight for it?"

The crowd inside the West Allis Central High School gymnasium answered each with a resounding "Yes!"

"And when we fight," Harris added, "we win!"

During Tuesday's campaign rally in Milwaukee, Harris devoted a portion of her speech to Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint crafted by the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups that has drawn the ire of Democrats.

"Donald Trump wants to take this country backward," Harris said. "He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we've got to take this seriously — and can you believe they put that thing in writing? Read it. It's 900 pages. But here's the thing, when you read it you will see Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare. He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill. They intend to end the Affordable Care Act and take us back then to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions."

Trump has denied knowledge of what Project 2025 entails.

In Milwaukee on Tuesday, Kamala Harris repeated much of the speech she gave at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., the day before.

She touted her experience as San Francisco's top prosecutor and California's attorney general.

"In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain," Harris said. "So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.

"And in this campaign," she added, "I promise you I will proudly put up my record against his any day of the week."

Speaking at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Harris told her audience that she had essentially clinched the Democratic nomination for president.

"So, Wisconsin, as of this morning I am told that we have earned the support of enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination," Harris said, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers. "And I am so very honored, and I pledge to you I will spend the coming weeks continuing to unite our party so that we are ready to win in November."

Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off the first official rally of her presidential campaign on Tuesday from a high school gymnasium in Milwaukee, saying, "the path to the White House goes through Wisconsin."

After thanking a long list of state and city officials, Harris turned her attention to the swing state's voters.

"You all helped us in 2020," Harris said. "And in 2024 we will win again."

Just over 24 hours after President Biden announced he was exiting the 2024 campaign and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement at the top of the Democratic ticket, Harris had secured the backing of a majority of delegates.

That rush of support, which will likely soon culminate in a virtual vote by delegates that will make Harris the nominee, has left some Democrats questioning whether it would be better for the party to hold a mini-primary prior before the start of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19.

Yahoo News collected some notable opinions on that question. Read the full article here.

President Biden's doctor said Tuesday that his COVID-19 symptoms have "resolved" and that he tested negative for the virus.

"The President's symptoms have resolved," White House physician Kevin O'Connor wrote in a memo released by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "Over the course of his infection, he never manifested a fever, and his vital signs remained normal, to include pulse oximetry. His lungs remained clear."

O'Connor said that Biden is also now testing negative for COVID, adding that the president "will continue to be monitored for any recurrence of illness."

Biden, who has been recovering at his Delaware home in isolation since testing positive last Wednesday, is scheduled to return to the White House this afternoon.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, both formally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic presidential nominee in a joint press briefing Tuesday afternoon.

The congressional leaders also praised President Biden's "selfless" decision to end his re-election campaign.

"We are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris," Schumer said.

"Harris is ready, willing and able to lead us into the future," Jeffries said. "I am proud to strongly endorse Kamala Harris to be the 47th president of the United States of America."

Majority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries announced a joint press conference taking place today at 1 p.m. ET in Washington, D., the New York Times reported. Neither has publicly endorsed Harris for president.

Biden confirmed in a post on X that he would be speaking about his decision to end his reelection campaign. He also specified that it will happen at 8 p.m. ET and that he will be speaking from the Oval Office.

The Washington Post and NBC News reported this morning that Biden will deliver a speech Wednesday to address his decision to drop out of the 2024 election. The Washington Post's sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the timing has not been publicly announced.

Vice President Kamala Harris is launching her last-minute campaign for the 2024 Democratic nomination with a huge head start over other would-be candidates, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll — and the strongest head-to-head numbers against former President Donald Trump.

Here are some key findings from the survey of 1,743 U.S. adults, which was conducted from July 19 to July 22, mostly before President Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday:

• Harris (46%) is currently tied with Trump (46%) among registered voters in a hypothetical matchup.

• Compared to Biden, Harris performs 3 points better among women, 7 points better among Americans ages 18 to 29, 7 points better among independents, 8 points better among Black Americans and 13 points better among those who view both Biden and Trump unfavorably (so-called “double haters”).

• In contrast, Trump (46%) would defeat lower-profile Democrats such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (40%), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (41%) or Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (39%) if the election were held today, according to the poll.

• Harris’s support among Democratic voters as a potential Biden replacement surged from 38% to 59% in the three weeks leading up to the president’s withdrawal, while support for "someone else" plummeted from 42% to 24%.

• Nearly half (49%) of Democratic voters said they would favor Harris as the new nominee over a field of hypothetical challengers, up from 31% three weeks ago against a different list of alternatives.

• Newsom finished in a distant second place at just 9% — down from 17% previously.

• Other rising Democratic stars — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (7%), Whitmer (5%), Shapiro (3%), Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (2%), Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (2%), Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (1%) and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock (1%) — lagged even further behind.

Read more here.

In an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning, DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said he expects Harris to pick her running mate by Aug. 7.

The Democratic convention is taking place Aug. 19-22, so Democrats will be having their virtual vote for a nominee sometime between Aug. 1 and Aug. 5, to have the process completed by Aug. 7, which is the deadline for a nominee to be listed on the ballot in Ohio. (This year, Ohio pushed back the deadline to Sept. 1, but party officials said they want to avoid any risk, Reuters reported.)

Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he hopes to have "many" debates with whoever becomes the Democratic nominee, but he reiterated his complaint that the debate he agreed to with President Biden was being hosted by ABC News.

"ABC Fake News is such a joke, among the absolute WORST in the business," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social shortly after midnight. "They try to make Crooked Joe into a brave warrior because he didn’t have the 'guts' to fight it out — He quit! They then tried to make 'Sleepy' look like a great President - he was the WORST, and Lyin’ Kamala into a competent person, which she is not. ABC, the home of George Slopadopolus, is not worthy of holding a Debate, of which I hope there will be many!"

Trump and Biden were scheduled to have their second debate of the 2024 election on Sept. 10. In a post on Sunday, Trump said the event should be held on Fox News "rather than very biased ABC."

George Clooney, who called on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race in an op-ed published by the New York Times just weeks after co-hosting a splashy Democratic fundraiser for his reelection campaign, praised the president for stepping aside.

“President Biden has shown what true leadership is," Clooney said in a statement to CNN. "He’s saving democracy once again.

The Oscar-winning actor and Democratic donor added: "We’re all so excited to do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic quest.”

Brianna Johnson, the communications director for the Harris campaign's Wisconsin office, sent a memo overnight previewing Vice President Kamala Harris's rally in Milwaukee.

"She is prepared to prosecute the case against Donald Trump — and there's no better place to drive this contrast than Milwaukee, Wisconsin," Johnson wrote. "Just last week, Trump and MAGA Republicans descended on this city for the Republican National Convention, highlighting his Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion nationwide, raise taxes for middle-class families, cut Social Security and Medicare, and give Trump virtually unchecked power.

"In Milwaukee, Trump paraded out JD Vance — a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda — the architect of Trump's family separation policies, authors of Trump's Project 2025, and governors who have signed dangerous and extreme abortion bans," Johnson added. "Vice President Harris's visit will highlight the choice facing Wisconsinites: between Donald Trump, the convicted felon who would drag this country backwards, and her brighter vision for the future, where our freedoms are protected and every American has a fair shot."

Vice President Kamala Harris will hold the first official rally of her 2024 presidential campaign in Milwaukee on Tuesday, while President Biden — who has been at home in Delaware recovering from COVID-19 — returns to the White House two days after dropping out of the race and endorsing her.

Here are their official schedules:

DAILY GUIDANCE FOR THE PRESIDENT FOR TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2024

12:30 PM THE PRESIDENT departs Rehoboth Beach, Delaware en route to Dover, Delaware
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Out-of-Town Pool

1:15 PM THE PRESIDENT arrives in Dover, Delaware
Dover Air Force Base
Out-of-Town Pool

1:25 PM THE PRESIDENT departs Dover, Delaware en route to Joint Base Andrews
Dover Air Force Base
Out-of-Town Pool

2:00 PM THE PRESIDENT arrives to Joint Base Andrews
Joint Base Andrews
Out-of-Town Pool

2:10 PM THE PRESIDENT departs Joint Base Andrews en route to the White House
Joint Base Andrews
Out-of-Town Pool

2:30 PM THE PRESIDENT arrives at the White House
South Grounds
Out-of-Town Pool

3:00 PM THE PRESIDENT receives the President's Daily Brief
Closed Press

DAILY GUIDANCE FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2024

At 10:40 AM ET, the Vice President will depart Washington, D.C., en route to Milwaukee, WI. This departure from Joint Base Andrews will be pooled press.

At 11:30 AM CT, the Vice President will arrive in Milwaukee, WI. This arrival at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport will be pooled press and open to pre-credentialed media.

At 1:05 PM CT, the Vice President will deliver remarks at a political event. These remarks will be pooled press and open to pre-credentialed media.

At 2:15 PM CT, the Vice President will depart Milwaukee, WI en route to Washington, D.C. This departure from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport will be pooled press.

At 4:55 PM ET, the Vice President will arrive in Washington, D.C. This arrival at Joint Base Andrews will be pooled press.

Vice President Kamala Harris released the following statement late Monday after an Associated Press delegate survey revealed that she already has enough support to become her party's presidential nominee:

Vice President Kamala Harris has already secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee, the Associated Press reported late Monday, citing its delegate survey.

"The delegate survey is different from AP's count of delegates won during the primary," the AP explained. "The survey is an unofficial tally, as Democratic delegates are free to vote for the candidate of their choice when the party picks its new nominee."

"Harris quickly locked up the support of her party's donors, elected officials and other leaders," it added. "No other candidate was named by a delegate in the survey and Harris now appears to have the backing of more than the 1,976 delegates she'll need to claim the nomination."

• Vice President Kamala Harris launched the first full day of her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination

• Harris spoke at a White House event honoring National Collegiate Athletic Association championship teams from the 2023-24 season

• She racked up endorsements from Democratic lawmakers, governors and unions

• She continued to court delegates in a bid to secure the Democratic nomination by Wednesday night

• She also spoke at her new campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., previewing how she will attack Trump and sharing warm moments with Biden

• Her campaign announced it had raised a record $81 million in 24 hours

• Republicans, meanwhile, suggested that they file state court challenges to keep the Democrats from swapping out Biden for another candidate

• Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance said he was ‘pissed off’ he would now not get to debate Harris

• Biden said he will address the nation later this week about his decision to exit the race but has not indicated when

Harris plans to meet in Washington this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an aide told the Washington Post. But the vice president will not be in attendance when Netanyahu addresses Congress on Wednesday due to a previously scheduled trip to Indiana.

President Biden plans to meet separately with Netanyahu at the White House this week.

Harris has picked up the backing of several powerful unions since President Biden announced his exit from the 2024 race and endorsed her.

Late Monday, the AFL-CIO said it had unanimously endorsed Harris for president. One of the most powerful unions in the country, the AFL-CIO has roughly 12.5 million members.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which boasts 1.6 million members, also came out in support of Harris's candidacy for president on Monday.

The United Food and Commercial Workers, which has roughly 1.3 million members, also endorsed Harris on Monday, as did the American Federation of Teachers, which has approximately 1.7 million members. The Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union, which represents 100,000 workers nationwide, also threw its support to Harris on Monday.

The Service Employees International Union, which has over 2 million members, endorsed Harris on Sunday.

Some powerful unions, including the United Auto Workers and the Teamsters, have yet to make their endorsements in the presidential race.

In remarks delivered Monday to the staff at what is now her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., Harris offered a preview of how she will go after former President Donald Trump should she secure the Democratic presidential nomination.

"As many of you know, before I was elected as vice president, before I was elected as United States senator, I was the elected attorney general of California, I mentioned that before that I was a courtroom prosecutor," Harris said. "In those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type."

Harris then compared and contrasted her prior experience with Trump's recent legal woes and affiliations.

"As a young prosecutor, when I was in the Alameda County district attorney's office in California, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse," Harris continued. "Donald Trump was found liable by a jury for committing sexual abuse. As attorney general of California, I took on one of our country's largest for-profit colleges and put it out of business. Donald Trump ran a for-profit college, Trump University, that was forced to pay $25 million to the students it scammed. As district attorney, to go after polluters, I created one of the first environmental justice units in our nation. Donald Trump stood in Mar-a-Lago and told Big Oil lobbyists he would do their bidding for a $1 billion campaign contribution. During the foreclosure crisis, I took on the big Wall Street banks and won $20 billion for California families, holding those banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of 34 counts of fraud."

Harris's words, and her even delivery, were music to some Democrats' ears.

"Great, well-delivered kickoff speech from the @VP at what is now HER campaign HQ, drawing a sharp contrast with Trump, their visions and values," David Axelrod, former chief strategist for President Barack Obama, wrote in a post on X. "Game on!"

Vice President Kamala Harris greeted campaign staff and gave a speech at the Wilmington, Del., campaign headquarters that had, until yesterday, housed President Biden's reelection efforts.

"I love you, Joe," Harris said to Biden, who called into the event. (He is still recovering after being diagnosed last week with COVID-19.)

"I love Joe Biden," she said later, declaring that serving as his vice president was "one of the greatest honors of my life, truly."

Harris is not only inheriting Biden's campaign headquarters, she is also keeping on key members of his team. She said Monday that she had asked Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon to run her campaign, and she accepted.

She also had tough words for Republican nominee Donald Trump, saying she "knows Donald Trump's type" after touting her work taking on sexual predators and fraudsters as a prosecutor.

— President Biden in a call to Harris campaign staffers on Monday

President Biden called into his former campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., on Monday, a day after dropping his reelection bid and endorsing Vice President Harris for the Democratic nomination.

"If I didn't have COVID I would be sitting there with you," Biden said to staffers on a speakerphone at what is now the headquarters of the Harris campaign. "But I'm not going anywhere."

Biden thanked the staff and told them to "embrace" Harris.

"I know yesterday's news was surprising and hard for you to hear," he said. "But it was the right thing to do. I know it's hard because you've poured your heart and soul to help us win this thing, help me win the nomination."

Biden said that he is focused on finishing his term in office but vowed to do anything Harris needs him to do to help her win in November.

"The name has changed at the top of the ticket but the mission hasn't," he said.

"Brat Summer," the definitive pop-culture vibe of the season, has made its way into politics.

“Kamala IS brat,” Charli XCX, whose album Brat came out June 7, posted on X just hours after President Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

According to a TikTok from Charli XCX, a to be "Brat" is to be "that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes."

Harris’s campaign seems to be embracing the concept, changing the official X account banner to include the bright green hue and the font of the Brat album cover. Other lawmakers have joined in, as well, adding to the rising number of memes Harris has been a part of lately.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment.

In less than a month, Biden went from confidently committing to seeing his campaign through to Election Day to announcing his decision to step aside and endorse Kamala Harris instead.

It began on June 27, when Biden and Trump debated for the first time since 2020. Biden's highly criticized performance caused a panic within the Democratic Party.

On July 2, Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first member of Congress to call on Biden to drop out, igniting an avalanche of congressional Democrats to follow suit.

A little over a week later, Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt during a rally. Biden's campaign canceled ads and events out of respect. The following Wednesday, Biden was diagnosed with COVID.

Then, on the afternoon of July 21, Biden shared a letter on X announcing his decision to drop out of the race. Less than an hour later, he posted another message endorsing Harris as the new Democratic nominee.

Read a more detailed timeline from Yahoo News.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder has been put in charge of vetting possible running mates for Harris, Reuters reported.

"Former attorney general @EricHolder and his law firm will be handling vetting of running mates for @KamalaHarris, sources tell me and @JarrettRenshaw," Reuters reporter Jeff Mason said in a Monday afternoon post to X.

Other outlets have since confirmed Reuters' reporting.

Under former President Barack Obama, the first Black president in U.S. history, Holder became the first Black Attorney General.

In the 24 hours since Vice President Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for president, she has raised $81 million — the largest single-day haul in presidential history, her campaign announced Monday.

The Harris campaign said that more than “888,000 grassroots donors made donations in the past 24 hours,” including “60% of whom made their first contribution of the 2024 cycle.”

“The historic outpouring of support for Vice President Harris represents exactly the kind of grassroots energy and enthusiasm that wins elections,” Kevin Munoz, her campaign spokesman, said in a statement. “Already, we are seeing a broad and diverse coalition come together to support our critical work of talking to the voters that will decide this election.

“There is a groundswell behind Kamala Harris,” he added, “and Donald Trump is terrified because he knows his divisive, unpopular agenda can’t stand up to the Vice President’s record and vision for the American people.”

On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana told ABC News that the move by Democrats to replace President Biden as the party's nominee would be "I think unlawful, in accordance to some of these states' rules for a handful of people to go in a back room and switch it out because they're, they don't like the candidate any longer.”

The Heritage Foundation, one of the conservative groups that crafted Project 2025, the blueprint that would restructure government agencies and dismantle environmental regulations should Republicans retake control of the White House, drafted a memo in June that asserted that the laws in some states do not allow for removing a candidate from ballots for reasons other than death.

"I think there'll be a compelling case to be made that that shouldn't happen, and so I think they've got legal trouble,” Mike Howell, executive director of the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, told Newsweek.

Heritage is planning to file legal challenges in a handful of swing states against the Democrats' plan to replace Biden as their presidential nominee but most election experts expressed doubt that lawsuits from Republicans would hold up in court.

Read more from Yahoo News.

Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign is looking to have secured the support of enough delegates to earn her the Democratic nomination for president by Wednesday evening, Reuters reported.

Harris needs the support of a simple majority of nearly 4,000 delegates to secure the nomination, and she and her campaign have been making hundreds of phone calls since President Biden announced his exit from the race on Sunday, according to Reuters.

Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison has said that the DNC would schedule a virtual vote between August 1 and August 5 for delegates to cast their votes for a nominee. With Biden no longer a candidate, delegates are free to select whomever they please.

Read more from Reuters.

Vice President Kamala Harris picked up the endorsement of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on Monday.

“As the last few weeks have made clear, Americans are looking for a new generation of leadership that will move past the divisiveness and unite us around our shared American values,” Hobbs wrote in a post on X. “I believe that leader is Vice President Harris, and I look forward to working with her to lower costs for Arizonans, restore reproductive freedom, and defend our democratic rights.”

Hobbs is the latest governor of a key swing state to endorse Harris. The Democratic governors of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania have already backed the vice president's bid.

In his first solo rally since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance on Monday suggested without evidence that President Biden was forced to drop out of the race by former President Barack Obama, billionaire philanthropist George Soros and other top-ranking party officials.

"The idea of selecting the Democrat party's nominee because George Soros and Barack Obama and a couple of elite Democrats got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard — that is not how it works," Vance said at a campaign stop in Middletown, Ohio, his hometown. "That is a threat to democracy, not the Republican Party, which is fighting for democracy every single day."

Vance also said he's upset he won't be able to debate Harris now that she is running for the top of the ticket.

"I was told I was going to get to debate Kamala Harris and now President Trump's gonna get to debate her," he said. "I'm kind of pissed off about that if I'm being honest with you."

Biden's physician, Dr. Kevin C. O'Connor, wrote in an official memo to Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, that the president's symptoms have "almost resolved completely." Biden was diagnosed with COVID on July 17.

"His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear," O'Connor wrote in the memo, released by the White House Monday. "The President continues to perform all of his presidential duties."

Politico takes a look at nine possible vice presidential picks for Harris, should she secure the Democratic nomination:

The outlet cites the following Democrats as the leading contenders:

• Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro

• Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly

• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear

• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom

• Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker

• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore

• Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg

Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries praised both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris but for now stopped short of endorsing her for president.

"President Biden is a heroic, patriotic, transformational leader who will go down in American history as one of the greatest public servants of all time," Jeffries said.

Jeffries said he and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are scheduled to meet with Harris "shortly."

He said her entrance into the 2024 race has "excited" the House Democratic caucus and the country.

"And so I'm looking forward to sitting down with her and leader Schumer," Jeffries said. "And we'll have more to say about the path forward after that meeting."

In a Monday post on X, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Kamala Harris for president: "I have full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November."

Hours after President Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic activists around the country began mobilizing to support her candidacy.

The group Win With Black Women held a Zoom call that its organizers said was joined by 44,000 people.

According to CNN, longtime Democratic operative Donna Brazile said on the call that she was in the process of gathering delegates to support Harris, and urged everyone listening to help fundraise and register voters.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser also spoke on the call, per CNN.

"I know what it's like to be in the crosshairs of Donald Trump," Bowser said. "We have to defend our sister."

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said Monday that he is "proud to support and be all in for the next president, @KamalaHarris."

Fetterman had been an emphatic supporter of Biden in the weeks following his poor debate performance and amid calls for him to step aside.

After declaring her support for Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was asked by a reporter whether she would join the Democratic ticket as Harris's running mate.

"Are you prepared to take the vice presidency if it's offered, ma'am?" Tim Skubick, a correspondent with CBS affiliate WLNS, asked Whitmer in an exchange captured on video.

"No, I'm not planning to go anywhere," Whitmer replied, adding: "I'm not leaving Michigan."

On Monday, Harris made her first public appearance since Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed her for president. The vice president spoke at an event on the South Lawn of the White House honoring National Collegiate Athletic Association championship teams from the 2023-24 season.

Kamala Harris will be heading to Wilmington, Del., today to meet staff on "the first full day of our campaign" to become the Democratic nominee for president.

The White House announced the update to Harris's schedule in an email to reporters, noting that the vice president will travel to Wilmington for "a campaign engagement" at 3:10 p.m. ET.

Vice President Kamala Harris made her first public appearance since announcing her presidential campaign, celebrating the achievements of NCAA student athletes today at the White House. President Biden is still recovering from COVID at his beach home in Delaware.

Before addressing the athletes, Harris reflected on Biden's legacy — but did not mention her own campaign.

"Our president, Joe Biden, wanted to be here today," she said. "I wanted to say a few words about our president. Joe Biden's legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history."

Read more from her speech:

In a message praising Biden's "lifetime of honorable public service," former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg opted not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president, saying, "Democrats now have a chance for a fresh new start, and while some elected leaders and party officials make their endorsements, there are still four weeks before the party’s more than 4,000 delegates convene in Chicago."

The billionaire Democrat, who gave millions to Biden's 2024 presidential campaign and ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign of his own in 2020, added: "The decision is too important to rush, because the election is too important to lose."

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday endorsed Kamala Harris for president, saying, "She represents our Party's best chance to defeat Donald Trump in November."

Pritzker added: "I also think it's past time we shatter that highest and hardest of glass ceilings and finally elect a woman as President of the United States."