Kansas, Missouri delegates help make Harris presumptive Democratic nominee for president

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an event in Philadelphia last year. Harris secured enough support to become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. (Alex Wong/Getty Images).

Kansas and Missouri delegates for the Democratic National Convention endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris Monday night, helping her secure enough support to become the party’s presumptive nominee for president.

The announcement from both states’ Democratic Party leaders came a day after President Joe Biden announced he would withdraw from the race.

According to a press release from the Missouri Democratic Party, delegates previously pledged to Biden decided unanimously to endorse Harris. The party’s chair, Russ Carnahan, called the vice president “exactly the candidate we need at exactly the moment we need her.” 

“President Biden believed that choosing Kamala Harris as vice president was one of the best decisions he made,” Carnahan said in a statement. “His decision to endorse Harris for president has shot a lightning bolt of energy across our country, creating an outpouring of support, volunteers and small dollar donations.”

The Kansas Democratic Party also announced Monday it was endorsing Harris.

“We are excited about the future for our country and unified in our endorsement!” the party said on social media.

In a statement released after she secured enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee, Harris said she intends to “unite our party, unite our nation and defeat Donald Trump in November.”

“I am grateful to President Biden and everyone in the Democratic Party who has already put their faith in me, and I look forward to taking our case directly to the American people.” 

Delegates who had pledged themselves to Biden following Kansas and Missouri’s presidential primary votes were largely united around Harris before they met Monday night to endorse her.

“She seems like the candidate that not only has the experience, but also, she has the backing of … the entire party’s leadership,” said former Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple, one of Kansas’ 39 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Fellow delegate and Kansas Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes said she didn’t see a path to victory for other potential candidates for president. 

“I think she is the candidate,” Sykes said, “and I think she is the one who can beat Donald Trump. Kind of letting the dust settle and see, but I support her. I think she would do a great job, and it seems like she is the viable option.” 

In a statement, Gov. Laura Kelly, who will also serve as a Kansas delegate, said she was “proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as our country’s next president of the United States.”

“At a time when our country is desperate to restore reproductive rights, strengthen the middle class, safeguard democracy and bring people together, we need her leadership now more than ever,” Kelly said. 

One of Missouri’s 70 delegates, April Rivera, said while it wasn’t a “done deal,” she was “over the moon” that Biden had endorsed Harris. 

“I am a big fan of the work that she’s done,” Rivera said. “I could not be happier to support her.”

Kenneth Bacchus, another Missouri delegate, said he planned to “wholeheartedly vote for” Harris. 

Missouri delegate Marsha Lerenberg said it wasn’t difficult to decide to support Harris after Biden dropped out.

“I was fully committed to President Biden,” Lerenberg said. “I’ve never wavered from that this entire time. … Now that his chosen successor is Kamala Harris, I am 100% behind her.”

Michael Berg, one of Missouri’s uncommitted delegates, said he was looking for a candidate who would support a ceasefire in Gaza and end the provision of weapons to Israel. He noted children in Gaza had starved to death or been killed by Israeli forces.

“This is behavior that should not stand,” Berg said. “The Israeli military is behaving in a way the American military does not, and our country should not be supporting this behavior, which is plausibly genocide, according to the highest court in the world.”

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