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The Blast: When the levee breaks [1]
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Date: 2024-07
In the wise words of Robert Plant, “When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.”
President Joe Biden has stepped aside atop the Democratic ticket and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, plotting a new course for Democrats through Chicago and on to November.
Biden’s undoing traced through Texas and Austin, where U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first crack in the president’s dam of support among congressional Democrats. While a flood of Democrats have endorsed Harris, Doggett says he would enthusiastically support Harris but wants a “fair, open” process to select the party’s nominee.
According to The Associated Press’ survey of Democratic delegates, Harris has 1,315 of the 1,975 delegates needed to secure the nomination. Of the Texas delegates who have responded, 21 say they support Harris while 12 say they are undecided, making Texas one of only a few states with significant Harris holdouts.
At publication time, Texas delegates had just convened for a meeting that was scheduled following Biden’s announcement this weekend. The delegation could vote to pledge its support for Harris, joining other state delegations that have done so already.
Texas has 273 delegates, more than any state but California and New York. Several delegates have already stated support for Harris, including U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, Jasmine Crockett of Dallas and Veronica Escobar of El Paso.
Escobar served as a national co-chair of the Biden campaign. And today, Crockett circulated a letter lobbying Texas delegates to support Harris during tonight’s vote, now moments away.
To get a text notification on the delegate results tonight, sign up for The Blast’s texting line here.
Some Texas delegates have expressed frustration with what they say has been little communication from state party leaders about the ticket since the presidential debate. However, tonight’s meeting will likely answer their process questions and outline the path forward, such as what happens in the event of a legal challenge from the GOP.
The next stop will be the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Along with the wave of Democratic support, donors rained dollars on ActBlue yesterday in what some are calling the biggest day of fundraising in the platform’s history. One of the largest clusters, according to a map of the donations, was centered on the D-FW area. Other stand-out origins of new funds seemed to include South Bend, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky.
South Bend, of course, is where “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg, cut his teeth before becoming secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. And Louisville is the largest city under the jurisdiction of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Texas Republicans are already leaning in against Harris. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said a Harris presidency would give Barack Obama a fourth term as president. Others have gone more substantive, attacking the vice president on border policy.
In an interview with KXAN late this afternoon, Gov. Greg Abbott pinned Biden’s immigration policies on Harris, referring to her as the president’s “border czar.” Immigration and inflation are the two top issues in the presidential race, he continued.
“Kamala Harris does not change that at all, in fact she is even more responsible for the open border policy because she has been the — or [was] supposed to have been the border czar and completely failed at it,” Abbott said.
Although Harris has become known as the administration’s “border czar,” she tried to avoid that label, according to reports. Harris’ specific role, as assigned in 2021, was to drill in to the “root causes” of immigration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Biden was scheduled to speak at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin last week, but that was scuttled following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. That has not been rescheduled, but look for a new date in the near future.
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