Kamala Harris favoured to win Democratic nomination as Biden steps aside

President Joe Biden's No 2 thrust into spotlight after mixed performance as Vice President

Vice President Kamala Harris has received endorsements from big names in the Democratic Party. AP

Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday suddenly became the favourite to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, marking a dramatic turn in her political fortunes after often being overlooked by the White House for three-and-a-half years.

Shortly after President Joe Biden announced he is no longer seeking re-election in November, he endorsed his deputy to succeed him, making a historic bet that America is ready to elect a black female president for the first time.

“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made,” Mr Biden said.

“It’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

Ms Harris, 59, quickly began to pick up other big name Democratic endorsements, including from Bill and Hillary Clinton, who said they would “fight with everything we've got to elect her”.

Ms Harris said in a statement that she was “honoured” to have Mr Biden's endorsement.

“My intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she said. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party – and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda."

Ms Harris was referring far-right plans to overhaul the federal government if Mr Trump wins.

Despite being first in line for the presidency since Mr Biden's inauguration in January 2021, Ms Harris has played a relatively low-profile role in his administration.

It is not uncommon for deputies to be relegated to the periphery, as was the case with Mike Pence during Mr Trump's term in office, but Ms Harris has also struggled in several public appearances.

She faced criticism for giving odd or long-winded speeches that detractors have turned into memes on the internet, including one that has been widely taken out of context in which she talked about people falling out of a coconut tree.

She made the reference in the context of prior events.

Early on in her tenure, Ms Harris was plagued by high staff turnover and reports of unhappiness among her employees, and she struggled to make progress on her portfolios of protecting voting rights and slowing migration from Central America.

The former California prosecutor has had few opportunities to discuss foreign policy, but led the US delegation to the Munich Security Conference in February where she sought to reassure global leaders that the Biden administration is committed to playing a leading role on the world stage.

And in an apparent response to Mr Trump's suggestion that Washington might not protect Nato allies who are not spending enough on defence, Ms Harris said the US would continue to support Ukraine and warned of the risks of an isolationist approach.

Her views on the Israel-Gaza war will now come under intense scrutiny, from Arab Americans and progressives who are furious over Mr Biden's almost unfettered support to Israel, and from pro-Israeli voices looking to pounce on any statement she might have made in support of Palestinian rights.

Ms Harris has strong connections to the Jewish community in the US and her husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.

During a speech in Alabama in March, she said what was happening in Gaza was “devastating".

“We have seen reports of families eating leaves or animal feed, women giving birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care, and children dying from malnutrition and dehydration," Ms Harris said. “As I have said many times, too many innocent Palestinians have been killed."

She also said the Israeli government “must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid".

Before becoming Vice President, Ms Harris was a rising star in Democratic politics for much of the past two decades, as San Francisco's district attorney and California's attorney general, before becoming a US senator.

The only time the US has elected a black person was Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. The only woman to lead a presidential ticket of a major party, Hillary Clinton, lost to Mr Trump in 2016, although she won the popular vote.

Supporters of Ms Harris, who is the first woman and first black and South Asian person to serve as Vice President, say she has been the subject of unfair attacks because of her race and gender.

She is two decades younger than Mr Trump and a leader in the party on abortion rights, an issue that resonates with younger voters and Democrats' progressive base.

Proponents say she would energise those voters, consolidate black support and bring sharp debating skills to prosecute the political case against the former president.

Her candidacy would offer a contrast to Mr Trump and his far-right vice presidential running mate, senator JD Vance, the two white men on the Republican ticket.

In a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, Ms Harris and Mr Trump were tied with 44 per cent support each in a July 15 to 16 Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted immediately after the assassination attempt against him last weekend.

Mr Trump led Mr Biden 43 per cent to 41 per cent in that same poll, although the two percentage point difference was within the poll's 3 percentage point margin of error.

Mr Harris's approval ratings, while low, are better than Mr Biden's. According to polling site Five Thirty Eight, 38.6 per cent of Americans approve of her while 50.4 per cent disapprove. Mr Biden has 38.5 per cent approval and 56.2 per cent disapproval.

“If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave that they will support Kamala – Vice President Harris – you would be mistaken. There's no safe option,” representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a Biden supporter, said on Instagram.

Outside Kamala Harris's home, the US Naval Observatory, in Washington on Sunday. AP