(RepublicanNews.org) – After some delay, Vice-President Kamala Harris has been endorsed by the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). The pair of top Democrats announced their support for the new presidential nominee before a largely silent crowd and the press.
Despite being two of the last well-known Democrat figures to offer their support to Harris, Schumer was keen to describe himself and his colleague as true and enthusiastic supporters who had remained silent out of respect for Harris’ wishes. Schumer explained that he had spoken to Harris on July 21at after Biden announced his departure from the presidential race and that she had expressed a wish to gain the “grassroots” support of the party and its voters. Speaking on July 23rd, Schumer explained that “the process has played out from the grassroots,” and so he was free to finally express his pleasure at her nomination.
Although both Schumer and Jeffries tried to get the crowd to share in their professed enthusiasm, both were mostly met with silence. On more than one occasion, Schumer suggested that the crowd should applaud his impassioned speech about Harris’ ascendancy to presidential nominee. The crowd did not applaud.
Schumer was followed by Jeffries, who began his speech with multiple positive statements about the incumbent President Joe Biden. He referred to Biden as “heroic” and “patriotic” before saying that he would be known as “one of the most consequential presidents” the country had ever seen. Turning the focus of his speech to Biden’s last-minute replacement, he asserted that Harris’ nomination had both “excited and energized” both the Democratic party and the nation. As with Schumer’s speech, Jeffries’ emphatic words were delivered to a silent crowd.
The message from the two top Democrats echoed the recent statements made by Harris’ campaign team: that she has a strong level of party support, including “grassroots” support. Her team has been keen to share the recent success of her campaign fundraising, with $100 million raised in the two days following Biden’s withdrawal from the race. Despite this apparent support, polls show that her Republican rival and former President Donald Trump leads by nine percentage points.
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