While Former President Obama has not given a formal endorsement to Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, sources near Obama indicate that he is solidly behind the Harris effort.
On Sunday afternoon, writing a letter on his X account, in which he also endorsed Harris for president, President Biden revealed that he was pulling out of the 2024 race. It also later sparked an across-the-board liberal consolidation behind Harris as the party’s prospects of knocking off ex-President Trump in an election for a second time loomed.
While Harris has been endorsed by several leading Democrats, Obama himself has not weighed in on one of his potential successors jumping into the 2020 race together.
“Michelle and I just want to express our love and gratitude to Joe and Jill for leading us so ably and courageously during these perilous times — and for their commitment to the ideals of freedom and equality that this country was founded on,” Obama wrote in his statement following Biden bowing out, which did not including mentioning Harris.
Obama has been careful with his endorsements since he left the White House. He backed Hillary Clinton in June 2016 and declared his support for Biden last summer just days prior to the Democratic National Convention.
In the 2020 election, Obama notoriously stayed out of the primary horse race altogether. Obama endorsed his former vice president in August of that same year, after the primary landed on Biden as frontrunner.
Harris, who ran for the presidency in 2020, is a longtime friend of Obama and speculation in the media arose that he might endorse her instead of Biden. In his 2008 presidential campaign, Harris endorsed Obama early.
During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris stated that when Obama first announced he was running for president, “I’m told that I was the first elected person in California to endorse [Obama] when he decided to run for president. I will remind you, and it is important to know, that early in those days Joe Biden was running against him.”
At the 2008 California Democratic convention, Harris said: “Barack Obama will be a president who finally ends the era of fear that has been used to divide and demoralize our country.”
During her career, leading from San Francisco district attorney to California attorney general and then senator, Harris was frequently likened to Obama and even derided as “the female Obama.”
Many in Obama’s political orbit backed Harris during her 2020 presidential campaign, though the former president remained neutral. Public relations executive Michael Kempner, Eugene Duffy, and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell – all important Obama backers back in the day – also worked to raise money for Harris.
With Harris’ candidacy surging and the DNC set to recognize her as the nominee on Aug. 1, Obama’s comment fits his careful endorsement strategy so far.
”We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” Obama said in his statement on Sunday. “I believe that Joe Biden’s vision of a generous, prosperous, and united America that provides opportunity for everyone will be on full display at the Democratic Convention in August. And I expect that every single one of us are prepared to carry that message of hope and progress forward into November and beyond.”
