NH Dems quickly fall in line behind Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Susan Walsh

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Susan Walsh

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Joe Biden abandoned his campaign for a second term after weeks of pressure from fellow Democrats to withdraw and just months ahead of the November election, throwing his support behind Harris. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/TNS)

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Joe Biden abandoned his campaign for a second term after weeks of pressure from fellow Democrats to withdraw and just months ahead of the November election, throwing his support behind Harris. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/TNS) Andrew Harnik

By CHARLOTTE MATHERLY

Monitor staff

Published: 07-22-2024 4:03 PM

New Hampshire Democrats are falling in line to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidential nomination following Joe Biden’s unprecedented departure from the race.

All 25 pledged state delegates plan to vote for Harris at the Democratic National Convention next month, according to a joint statement send out Sunday evening.

“Our endorsement reflects the sentiments of the historic number of Granite State voters who supported the Biden-Harris ticket in the 2024 NH Presidential Primary,” they said. “Kamala Harris will defeat the Trump-Vance ticket, their dangerous Project 2025 agenda, and will build upon the successes and values of the Biden-Harris Administration.”

Ray Buckley, chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said he assembled delegates on a call at 7 p.m. Sunday night to inform them of their options after Biden dropped out. He didn’t expect them all to endorse Harris so quickly, but in less than an hour, they voted unanimously to support the vice president.

Younger delegates, especially, were impassioned by Harris’s campaign, Buckley said. In addition to the benefit of having a female candidate making the case for reproductive rights, Buckley also said delegates are excited to see a stark contrast between Trump and Harris.

“The concept of having a prosecutor debate a convicted felon is going to be quite a sight to behold,” Buckley said.

New Hampshire’s full congressional delegation has pledged their support to the vice president, too. Rep. Annie Kuster, who serves the second district and isn’t running for reelection, was the first to endorse Harris after the news broke Sunday afternoon. She said in a statement that Harris is “one of the most effective and influential vice presidents in American history.”

“I have full confidence in her ability to unite Democrats, Independents, and reasonable Republicans to defeat Donald Trump and the disastrous policies his administration would enact on the American people,” Kuster said.

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Others soon followed her lead, including Rep. Chris Pappas, Sen. Maggie Hassan and, most recently, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Several of them touted Harris’s leadership from the White House on abortion rights.

“Given her experience as a former prosecutor and Senator, she has what it takes to lead and win at this critical time in our nation’s history,” Shaheen said in a statement on X. “We cannot allow MAGA policies of fear, retribution and isolationism to return to the White House.”

Colin Van Ostern, a Democrat running for Kuster’s seat in Congress, told the Monitor that he’s excited to support Harris in November. In the first 24 hours after the news broke, Van Ostern said he’d already heard from voters who will be supporting Harris and are glad that Biden stepped down.

All four of New Hampshire’s members of Congress either declined interviews or did not respond to the Monitor’s request prior to this story’s publication. Van Ostern’s opponent, Maggie Goodlander, did not respond to an interview request but said in a statement on X that she’ll be supporting Harris as the Democratic nominee.

Republicans, on the other hand, had much to say about Harris’s switch to the top of the ticket. Congressional candidate Lily Tang Williams said in a statement on X that Biden’s exit “changes nothing.”

“Democrat primary voters have cast their votes for Biden as the nominee, yet a pressure campaign from the elites in the party have pushed him out of power,” Tang Williams said. Democrats like Harris “are responsible for the border crisis, failing economy, high inflation and rising crime we are experiencing today.”

Gov. Chris Sununu also commented, telling WMUR that it’s “a bit of a coin toss” but he believes Democrats will get a bump in the polls. Nationally, Harris polls better than Biden in some key swing states, like Pennsylvania and Virginia, but is expected to be neck-and-neck with Trump come November.

New Hampshire’s delegates who signed the letter in support of Harris include Manchester Alderman Bill Barry, State Representative Angela Brennan, State Representative Matt Wilhelm, State Representative Luz Bay, Jay Bowie, Angela Delaney, KR Epstein, Sue Ford, Slate Goodwin, Prescott Herzog, Aliyana Koch-Manzur, Patrick Long, Former State Senator Melanie Levesque, Doug Marino, Maxine Mosley, Shana Potvin, Alex Wahl, Rob Werner, Sebastian Fuentes, Sumathi Madhure, Carlos Cardona, JJ Dega, Jim Demers, Samay Sahu and Maura Sullivan.