Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally in Atlanta on July 30, 2024. Over 10,000 people attended. (Kyle Mazza / Anadolu via Getty Images) |
BY Carrie N. Baker | Within hours of President Joe Biden’s announcing he would withdraw from the presidential race, 44,000 Black women met online and raised over $1.5 million for Vice President Kamala Harris in just an hour and a half. On the popular fundraising website Act Blue, Democrats raised over $90 million in the first 24 hours from 888,000 donors, 60 percent giving for the first time, making it the third-largest single day in the website’s history. “This might be the greatest fundraising moment in Democratic Party history,” said Democratic digital strategist Kenneth Pennington.
Even before Biden’s announcement, Harris was out-polling him in all six swing states and was ahead of him in states that Democrats need to hold, such as Minnesota and Virginia. While there are many factors as to why Harris has received such enthusiastic support, one hugely important reason is her leadership on reproductive rights.
Harris has been a long-standing and vocal supporter of women’s reproductive rights. After the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022, Harris traveled the country convening state legislators to discuss reproductive rights in Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia and Indiana. In Washington, D.C., she brought together legislators from Montana, Indiana, Florida, South Dakota and Nebraska. She also spoke with healthcare providers, constitutional law experts, faith leaders, state attorneys general, disability rights leaders and women’s rights advocates.
Harris is the Democratic Party’s leading voice on abortion rights—a priority issue for many voters.
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