Montana’s Democratic delegates pledged their support Wednesday for Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination to the top of the ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Despite Montana’s verbal support for Harris as the Democratic candidate, the vice president’s nomination was already all but certain: She previously received the verbal support of enough delegates from other states to become the official nominee when the Democratic National Convention holds a virtual roll call vote in early August. She is said to be the only candidate for the nomination on the ballot ahead of the virtual roll call as other contesters did not receive the necessary support — signatures from at least 300 delegates, with no more than 50 from a single state, by the evening of July 30 — to have their name considered.
People are also reading…
Montana Democratic Party delegates from across the state met in 2017 in Helena to select musician Rob Quist as their nominee to run for U.S. Congress.
Following Montana’s June primary election, the delegates were pledged to Biden, who has since endorsed Harris, after Montana Democrats overwhelmingly elected him in the state’s primary. Since then, Biden bowed out of the race after he put on a disastrous debate performance that intensified calls for him to step aside, namely because of concerns over his advanced age.
“We are proud to support Vice President Kamala Harris as our party’s presidential nominee and enthusiastically endorse her as the next president of the United States,” the delegates said in a Wednesday press release.
Party supporters gather at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds on March 2 for the Montana Democrats’ annual Mansfield Metcalf Dinner.
Gaby Krevat, communications director for the state party, said she “assumes” all Montana’s delegates are voting for Harris.
To become the official nominee for president, candidates must secure a majority of the roughly 4,000 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. The delegates tend to follow the lead of their states voters and support the candidate that won the state’s primary during the official convention nomination.
In the hours following Harris announcing her bid for president, delegates from multiple states across the country quickly pledged their support for the vice president.
U.S. Sen Jon. Tester listens to speakers at the Montana Democrats’ annual Mansfield Metcalf Dinner at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds in Helena on March 2.
That said, there are still a handful of prominent Democrats on Capitol Hill who support an open nomination process at the mid-August convention and have not yet backed Harris, one of whom is Sen. Jon Tester. Tester’s office and campaign did not immediately respond to an email Wednesday asking for comment following the announcement from the state party.
Asked who else he could support, Tester previously said, “We’ll see who runs.”
Tester is in a tight reelection battle with Republican nominee Tim Sheehy, whose campaign has relentlessly tried to tie the senator to Biden and now Harris. Tester’s campaign has been critical of Biden over the course of the campaign and has made concerted efforts to distance the three-term incumbent from the president, who is unpopular in Montana.
