Texas delegates consider Harris after Biden backs out

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WASHINGTON — After President Joe Biden’s surprise withdrawal from the presidential race Sunday, several of Texas’ Democratic delegates were rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris to secure the party’s nomination ahead of what will likely be the first contested political convention in decades.

However, others — including at least one Texas Democrat in Congress — urged a partywide discussion on who represents the best path forward as they seek to defeat former President Donald Trump.

“It’s now time to unite and rally behind our Vice President, Kamala Harris,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat who was a national co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign, said in a Sunday statement. “She, too, earned 14 million votes in the primary, will lead the fight for our freedoms against Trump’s Project 2025 and the MAGA movement that seeks to end our democracy.”

All 12 of Texas’ Democrats in Congress serve as delegates to the national party convention in Chicago next month.

“I am grateful to the President for his decades of service to our country and I look forward to working to elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said in a statement.

In a Sunday afternoon press call, Castro said he expects “the overwhelming majority of Democrats” to support Harris.

Biden quickly endorsed Harris to be the party’s presidential nominee after dropping from the race Sunday afternoon. He said on social media that selecting Harris to be his vice president was “the best decision I’ve made” and “it’s time to come together” behind Harris to beat Trump.

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who was a vocal supporter of Biden staying in the race, said on social media that she’s all in on Harris.

“I know one thing, I will only work for @KamalaHarris ! If it’s anyone OTHER than her, enjoy campaign season… I hope all of my disenchanted colleagues are able to find some walking shoes and get to work because I WILL NOT!” she said while blasting her fellow Democrats for having “pushed the most consequential President of our lifetime out.”

Reps. Greg Casar of Austin, Lizzie Fletcher of Houston and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth also quickly backed Harris. Veasey, this week called on Biden to drop out of the race, asking him to “pass the torch” to a younger leader like Harris.

“Harris is the person everyone’s getting behind,” Veasey said in a Sunday evening interview with The Texas Tribune. “She’s the one that is ready to go and up for the job.”

But Harris is not guaranteed the nomination. Despite Biden’s endorsement for Harris, none of the president’s Texas delegates are required to back her at the party’s national convention in Chicago next month.

U.S. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, immediately called for an open convention.

“While, with President Biden’s endorsement, Vice President Harris is clearly the leading candidate, we should be open to all talented individuals who wish to be considered,” Doggett said.

Doggett was the first Democrat in Congress to call on Biden to step down from the ticket after the president’s botched debate performance last month. By Sunday evening, Doggett said the field of potential Democratic candidates was narrowing on Harris.

“Most of the people that could be challengers to her are endorsing her,” Doggett said.

Still, Doggett said he remained open to any candidate who could show how they would win critical states and defeat Trump.

Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen issued statements on Sunday lauding Biden without signaling immediate support for Harris. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, who is running for U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz, did not name Harris in his statement, but a spokesman later clarified to the Tribune that Allred is backing the vice president.

Members of Congress aren’t the only ones who will get a say this August at the Democratic National Convention where the party nominee will be decided.

Texas has 273 delegates at the convention — the third most behind California and New York — including down ballot elected officials and other party leaders throughout the state.

The Democratic National Committee has not yet laid out how it would proceed with the nominating process. DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said on social media that the party would “undertake a transparent and orderly process” that is “governed by established rules and procedures of the Party.”

In a statement formally announcing her run for the White House, Harris said it was her “intention is to earn and win this nomination.”

Angel Carroll, a national delegate for Congressional District 17, said she had backed Biden despite calls for him to step down and had been chosen at the state convention last month to attend the convention as a delegate for Biden. Now, she said, the strategy should be to rally around Harris.

“Our best path forward is to get behind the vice president,” she said. “That’s what our vice president is for, to step up when the president needs them.”

All five national delegates from Texas’ Congressional District 21, which covers a significant portion of Austin, united behind Harris, as did the district’s two state democratic executive committee members.

Passion Jackson, a delegate from Dallas, said she felt “really sad” for Biden. Harris is “the best person we can put forward,” Jackson said, but she was also worried about Harris facing misogyny during the election.

“We’re in uncharted territory at this point,” Jackson said.” I don’t even know what to expect.”

Julio Salinas, a delegate from Austin, said he would prefer to have some discussion about the new nominee before the DNC.

“I would like to see it a little bit open,” he said. “There should be some talk with the delegates on how we’re going to go forward.”

He added, however, that he saw Harris as the “favorite” and would be happy with her as a nominee. Harris would have “a great shot” of defeating Trump, Salinas added, in part by turning the election back to issues like reproductive rights.

Cathy Broadrick, a first-time delegate from Midland, immediately threw her support behind Harris. The 65-year-old retired prison case manager said she wants to see the first female president in her lifetime, a milestone she hopes to celebrate this November with her granddaughters.

She added that she doesn’t anticipate other Democrats will seek the nomination. “I just don’t think anybody wants to,” she said.

Biden withdrew from the race Sunday afternoon — just over 100 days before Election Day — after a growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers, donors, activists and strategists said his candidacy was no longer viable after a brutal debate performance against Trump last week. Biden was often unable to form coherent sentences, often jumbling thoughts and facts. The performance highlighted longstanding questions about his age.

The presidential race was thrown into yet more chaos when a gunman shot at former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The incident, being investigated as an attempted assassination, drew outrage from Texas Republicans and forced Biden to postpone a campaign stop to Austin. The horror of political violence gave rise to rallying cries of unity at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Biden’s polling, already under water in most battleground states, slipped further. Democrats fretted that the attempted assassination would lock in a Trump victory.

Harris has polled slightly better against Trump, though one poll in Texas found that Harris was slightly more unpopular than Biden in Texas.

Harris has largely played second fiddle to Biden throughout his presidency, making it difficult for her to stand out, said Jacob Monty, a former Republican booster from Houston who gave $35,000 to the Biden Victory Fund. But Monty said those critiques would go away if she became the nominee and could be the face of the party without stepping on Biden’s toes.

“As VP you can’t outshine the president, but now she’ll be able to shine and she’s going to do very well in debates against former President Trump,” Monty said. “You need to have someone who’s articulate and can joust with him in a debate.”

Monty, who was part of Trump’s Hispanic Advisory Council before breaking with him because of hard-line immigration policies, said he’d already given Harris $25,000 and would give her “another $25,000 at least,” signaling good fundraising fortunes for a ticket with Harris at the top.

Domingo Garcia, a Dallas lawyer and donor who had given $100,000 to the Biden campaign, said Biden stepping down changes the momentum in the presidential race which had been trending for Trump. Garcia had wanted Biden to step aside and said he wants to see an open process for the nomination, despite Harris’ frontrunner status.

“I believe Vice President Harris has the front runner lead in the process,” he said Sunday afternoon. “It should be open and shouldn’t just be a couple of party bosses choosing the nominee.”

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