Kamala Harris OFFICIALLY secures Democratic nomination for US President: ‘People coming together to…’

US Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday won the 2024 Democratic National Convention, securing a majority of the delegates' votes, The Washington Post reported.

Democratic Party officials officially announced her as the party's presidential nominee, concluding an extraordinary process that followed the former Democratic candidate's withdrawal less than two weeks ago.

"I am honoured to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I will officially accept the nomination next week. This campaign is about people coming together, fueled by love of country, to fight for the best of who we are," Harris wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

After the announcement, US President Joe Biden said he made one of the best decisions to choose Kamala Harris for the US President post. “One of the best decisions I've made was picking @KamalaHarris as my vice president. Now that she will be our party's nominee, I couldn't be prouder,” he said.

More than 4,000 convention delegates had until Monday to cast their votes, but with no other candidates qualifying to contest Harris, her nomination was essentially guaranteed.

The official nomination of Harris as the first woman of colour to lead a major party's presidential ticket represents a significant milestone for a nation historically divided by racial and gender issues, The Post said. 

The announcement came from Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, who mentioned that Harris reached the required threshold just a day after online voting started on Monday.

Kamala Harris officially inked the forms to declare her candidature for the US presidential elections on July 27. She assured that her people's powered campaign would win in November.

On July 30, more than 3,900 delegates had petitioned to put Harris on the ballot for the nomination, according to the Democratic National Committee. 

Harris is only the second person of colour to lead a major presidential ticket in the nearly 250-year history of the United States, following Barack Obama in 2008. As a Black and Indian American woman, Harris has recently faced criticism from Trump, who baselessly claimed she once downplayed her Black heritage.

She is also the second woman to be a major-party nominee for president, after Hillary Clinton in 2016. That year, Clinton's unexpected loss to Trump shocked Democrats and dramatically altered the political scene.

(With ANI inputs)