Louisiana Democratic delegates begin getting behind Vice President Kamala Harris
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — With President Joe Biden deciding not to run for re-election, Louisiana’s Democratic delegates have to decide who they will throw their support behind at the Democratic National Convention next month.
In an emergency meeting hours after the president’s announcement, Louisiana’s 53 Democratic delegates met to discuss who they would cast their votes for at the DNC. Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis is a delegate and has served in multiple election cycles. He believes the general message is to get behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Even though we were not unanimous in our statement, I would not take that as any slight or disagreement of the vice president is the strongest,” Lewis said. “We just had some delegates who said, ‘Wait, this is moving very fast. I kind of want to just see what the process is before I commit.’ And I thought that was a very respectful request.”
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Democrats will meet in Chicago on Aug. 19. Harris will need a majority of the nearly 4,700 delegates to secure the nomination for the party.
Some are concerned with the DNC selecting the nominee after the primary has already taken place. State Rep. Mandie Landry, another delegate, said this situation is why they are elected.
“The fact remains that we have delegates and we have this process because things can go wrong,” Landry said. “I mean, President Biden or several years ago, Sen. Clinton, could have passed away or something else dramatic event could happen. So that’s kind of why we do have this, in my opinion, fail-safe there.”
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Both Lewis and Landry said they supported Harris in 2019 when she made her first bid for president. The state party chairman, Randal Gaines, released the following statement.
“We are grateful to President Joe Biden for his remarkable leadership, and we are committed to honoring his legacy by working tirelessly this fall to keep the White House in Democratic hands. I am proud to share that Louisiana’s Democratic delegates will join President Biden in endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as our nominee. It’s time we come together, and by throwing our full support behind her, we can beat Donald Trump again and continue Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishments and progress for our country. We look forward to a productive, energizing, and historic convention in which we nominate the first black woman as our Democratic nominee.”
Randal Gaines, chair of Louisiana Democratic Party
Harris has also been endorsed by Louisiana’s only Democrat congressman, Rep. Troy Carter.
The secretary of state’s office said they must have the official candidate’s name by the evening of Aug. 23.
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