Former US President Barack Obama announced Friday that he is supporting the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris in the November presidential election, amplifying the momentum gained by the campaign of the big favorite of the Democrats, not yet officially designated to face Donald Trump.
“Earlier this week, Michelle and I called our friend Kamala Harris and told her that we thought she would make a fantastic president of the United States and that she had our full support,” Obama said on the social network X.
“At this critical moment for our country, we will do everything in our power to ensure she wins in November. We hope you will join us,” he added.
The influential former leader is one of the last Democratic heavyweights to speak out, as Joe Biden pledged his support to Kamala Harris on Sunday. The 81-year-old incumbent threw in the towel Sunday night after weeks of calls to quit the race amid concerns about his physical and mental health.
The support of former President Obama (2009-2017) amplifies the growing momentum of Mr. Obama’s campaign.me Harris, 59, who has enjoyed a groundswell of support from trade unions, ethnic minorities and her party since announcing her candidacy.
Kamala Harris said on Thursday that she was ready to debate with Donald Trump, but the Republican candidate for the American presidential election considered it “inopportune” to organize a face-to-face with his new rival before she is officially designated by the Democratic Party.
“Democrats could still change their minds,” said Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s campaign.
Assuring for her part that she was “ready”, the Democratic candidate mocked on X: “Trump accepted a debate on September 10. Now it seems that he is backpedaling.”
“What happened to ‘anytime, anywhere’?” Harris mocked X again, referring to the phrase Donald Trump used when he responded to Joe Biden’s challenge to debate.
Donald Trump had indicated that he was “totally” willing to debate with her, but under different conditions, the choice of the planned channel, ABC, no longer suited him. The former Republican president had agreed with Joe Biden to debate twice before the presidential election in November, on June 27 and September 10.
But the Democratic candidate’s disastrous performance in this first televised duel ultimately led him to throw in the towel.
“Ban assault weapons”
Campaigning in Texas on Thursday, Kamala Harris reeled off the campaign arguments she has been honing since Sunday: education, abortion rights, accessible health care…
She did not hold back her attacks on the former Republican president: Donald Trump and his allies “have the nerve to tell teachers to put a gun in the classroom while they refuse to adopt common sense laws on gun safety,” the fifty-year-old told the American Federation of Teachers.
“Donald Trump and his extremist allies want to return our nation to failed economic policies,” she added.
The vice president also mentioned the bans in several conservative states of books dealing with subjects related to gender, sexuality or even racism: “We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.”
Her first campaign video was released Thursday, and the Democrat can boast of having a song by superstar Beyoncé as its soundtrack, despite being known for keeping tight control over her music.
Kamala Harris was violently attacked by Donald Trump on Wednesday evening, during a campaign rally in North Carolina. He accused her of being in favor of the “execution of babies” in an anti-abortion diatribe. The former president also, as with each of his opponents, gave her a nickname: “Kamala-the-liar.”
Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, 39, drew the ire of actress Jennifer Aniston on Thursday for his comment about Kamala Harris not having children, disdaining “old cat maids without children.”
“I really can’t believe this is coming from a potential Vice President of the United States,” the star of the series commented on Instagram. Friendswho had publicly reported her failures to conceive.
On Wednesday night, Joe Biden, speaking from the Oval Office of the White House, claimed he had left the campaign to “save democracy” and make way for “younger voices” — Kamala Harris is more than 20 years his junior.