Barack, Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris for president after days of silence
The endorsement comes days after President Biden announced he would not be seeking a second term
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama officially endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a video released Friday morning, after days of silence over their support.
The announcement came five days after President Biden, in a blockbuster announcement Sunday, ended his 2024 re-election rematch with former President Trump and endorsed his vice president. Biden made his move amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out after a disastrous performance in last month's first presidential debate with Trump.
The embattled president's immediate backing of Harris ignited a surge of endorsements of Harris by Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders. By Monday night, the vice president announced that she had locked up her party's nomination by landing the backing of a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month's Democratic National Convention.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But until Friday, the Obamas had kept quiet. The former president and former first lady now become the final key party leaders to endorse Harris.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Barack Obama attending an event to mark the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House on April 5, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, File)
In the video, Barack Obama could be heard first greeting Kamala, with Michelle chiming in as well.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala: I am proud of you. This is going to be historic," Michelle Obama said.
"We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office," former President Obama said following his wife.
The former president then called Harris a "happy warrior."
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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris wave at a campaign event at Girard College, Wednesday, May 29, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
"Indeed," Harris answered back.
"The country needs a happy warrior," the former first lady said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TRUMP QUICKLY MOVES TO DEFINE HARRIS AS 'MORE LEFT THAN BERNIE SANDERS'
The Obamas’ endorsement added to the growing support for the vice president’s candidacy, including endorsements from labor unions, advocacy groups, and dozens of Democratic elected officials.
"It's time for us to rally around you, your candidacy. This is not on you, it's not just on you and Doug, it's on all of us. ... We've got to register, we've got to vote. ... So, let's all roll up our sleeves and make it happen," the former first lady said in a statement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State and former Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, quickly backed Harris on Sunday.
Vice President Kamala Harris arrives for a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Harris, thrust suddenly into the fray after Joe Biden announced Sunday that he wouldn't seek reelection, has spent the last two days clearing the field of other potential contenders and securing the endorsement of nearly every major Democrat. (Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But former President Obama didn't mention Harris in his Sunday statement.
"We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead," he said at the time. "But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."
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Plenty of Republicans seized on the lack of an Obama endorsement this week as a sign that the Harris nomination may have not been a done deal, even though she said on Monday evening that she had locked in enough delegate commitments to clinch the nomination.
On Thursday evening, the Trump campaign pointed to the lack of an Obama endorsement as it argued the former GOP president woudn't agree to debate Harris until she was officially the Democrats' nominee.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 20, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
"There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party — namely Barack Hussein Obama — that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone ‘better,’" Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Thursday evening. "Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds."
The Obamas and Harris have a political history that dates back a decade and a half.
When then-Sen. Obama successfully ran for the White House in 2008, then-San Francisco district attorney Harris was an Obama campaign co-chair in California.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Then-President Obama endorsed Harris in her successful campaigns in 2010 for California attorney general and in 2016 for the U.S. Senate.
The endorsement from the Obamas comes as the Harris campaign kicks off what it's touting as a ‘Weekend of Action’ to mark 100 days until Election Day.