The Orange County Register, July 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris stood before a group of women at a lunch in Los Angeles earlier this year and said, “Black women are always leading us forward.” She was addressing the L.A. Sentinel Women’s Luncheon at a luxury hotel in Century City, talking about how reproductive health care rights are under threat and noting the impact women have on the upcoming presidential election. Fast forward just three months and President Joe Biden would exit the race, putting Harris, who has already broken significant gender and racial barriers in her career, in position to lead women another step forward: to the presidency.
Harris isn’t officially the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee — the process for just how the nominating process will play out next month is still a bit murky — but in just 24 hours, she quickly shored up support from leading Democratic lawmakers, delegates (including from Southern California) and donors. Team Harris announced Monday that it raised $81 million in the first 24 hours after Biden’s announcement, the greatest haul during a 24-hour span of any candidate ever, the campaign said.
