A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
As political announcements go, it was a stunner. President Biden said yesterday that he's given up on the Democratic nomination and dropping his run for reelection. Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take over the top of the Democratic ticket, but it's unclear exactly how the party will proceed now.
NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith is in Rehoboth Beach, Del., where Biden has been recovering from COVID. Tam, so now that Kamala Harris has Biden's endorsement, what might she do with it?
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: In a statement, Harris said that she is honored that President Biden endorsed her and that it is her intention to earn and win the nomination. She added that she will do everything in her power to unite the Democratic Party and unite the nation to defeat Donald Trump. At this point, we don't know yet if anyone will be able to get enough support from Democratic convention delegates to make this a real race. So far, we have seen a ton of endorsements pour in for Harris, including from members of Congress, whole state delegations and some of the big-name Democrats who had previously been mentioned as possible candidates.
But in their statements, fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama notably didn't explicitly endorse Harris. Perhaps they are trying to avoid the appearance of a coronation. I heard from someone familiar with her how she spent her day yesterday. Apparently, Harris spent 10 hours on the phone, making calls to Democratic Party leaders, members of Congress and others to line up this support.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, what's the Biden campaign telling staff?
KEITH: Well, they are telling them they still have their jobs.
MARTÍNEZ: OK.
KEITH: Jen O'Malley Dillon, who led Biden's reelection effort, told them that they just need to quickly pivot to being full steam ahead behind Vice President Harris. The branding and the website have already changed. But so much of their campaign was focused on beating Trump, trying to make it a referendum on him and Republican policies that they don't need to reinvent the wheel in litigating the case to the American people, she said. And a campaign spokeswoman emailed this morning, saying that in the hour since Biden endorsed Harris, her campaign has raised nearly $50 million in grassroots donations. That is a lot of money.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, it certainly sounds like a lot of money. But generally, Tam, how much do voters know about Vice President Kamala Harris?
KEITH: Yeah, like all vice presidents, she has been pretty invisible at many points. I was recently talking to voters in North Carolina who were like, where is Harris? And what is she doing? You know, the reality is that she's been on dozens of foreign trips and is, importantly, the lead voice in the administration on the issue of abortion. But a lot of people really don't feel like they know her, aside from her being a first.
And what they do know - maybe through the lens of Republican attacks on her handling of immigration. And even her laugh - the hits are already coming, some about policy and some that lean on well-worn tropes about Black women. There's a Democratic outside group called EMILYs List and others that are planning to spend millions of dollars to make sure voters feel comfortable with her as president.
MARTÍNEZ: So quickly, Tamara, what happens now? What's the process like?
KEITH: Well, we are headed for a highly condensed primary campaign, where the only voters are the 4,700 or so delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It will be like reality TV like you've never seen, or maybe it'll all be sewn up before then. But there is a process for this. Interestingly, there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution about how the nominees are chosen. This is a party process, which feels super weird, given that millions of people voted in the primary. But the rules are clear.
MARTÍNEZ: I do love a good reality show. That's NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks a lot.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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