USA TODAY review: Kamala Harris secures votes needed to become Democratic nominee

WASHINGTON - Vice President Kamala Harris successfully moved Monday to shore up the support she needed to secure the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, potentially avoiding a bitter internal party dispute one day after President Joe Biden announced he's backing out of his own White House campaign.

A USA TODAY count of delegates shows the 59-year old Harris has secured endorsements in excess of the 1,976 delegates needed to become the party's nominee in the first round of voting. There are 3,936 Democratic delegates in total, including former presidents, state and local party leaders, members of Congress and governors, but only about half get to vote in the first round.

California's delegates put Harris over the top Monday evening when they voted unanimously to back the state's former U.S. Senator for president. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the vote.

"Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top," Harris said in a late-night statement Monday. "I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon."

She expressed thanks to Biden and others in the Democratic party who support her.

"I look forward to taking our case directly to the American people," Harris said. "This election will present a clear choice between two different visions. Donald Trump wants to take our country back to a time before many of us had full freedoms and equal rights. I believe in a future that strengthens our democracy, protects reproductive freedom and ensures every person has the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead."

Texas Democrats followed California soon after. New Jersey, Nevada and others also weighed in for Harris.

After announcing Sunday afternoon that he no longer sought the nomination, the 81-year-old Biden endorsed Harris, a move that likely inspired delegates pledged to him to endorse her.

It will ultimately be up to delegates to pick the nominee. The Democratic Party on Monday laid out plans to hold a virtual vote to pick a nominee before August 7, weeks before the Democratic National Convention that's scheduled to run August 19-22 in Chicago. Other candidates could put their name in for consideration at that time, but if Harris has secured the necessary votes any challenge would be short lived. The vice president has already largely gathered the support of the governors, Capitol Hill Democrats and others who would vote in a second round.

Per Democratic National Committee rules, a candidate must receive pledged support from 300 delegates to appear on the ballot at the convention.

More:How will delegates and superdelegates at the DNC handle Biden dropping out?

Harris has been working the phones since Biden announced Sunday night he would no longer seek the nomination. Tennessee was the first state to pledge all its eligible delegates to Harris on Sunday. South Carolina, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Florida followed behind.

John Pitney, a Claremont McKenna College politics professor, said the speed in which Harris has been lining up delegates was still "quite surprising." He added that Harris would benefit from getting to Chicago with the nomination in hand rather than get mired in a floor fight where the party's fissures would be exposed on issues like Israel's war in Gaza.

"The sooner she wraps this up, the better," said Pitney, who has followed Harris' career for decades. "And I think that's going to happen in fact sooner than anybody expected."

On Monday, that list expanded to include the more than 250 delegates from Florida, as well as delegates in Alabama, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa.

On a press call Monday to announce that Florida's delegates will back Harris, state House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell called Harris "battle tested."

"She's the most qualified vice president we've ever had in history, and she will certainly be the most qualified president and she is the trusted leader that we need in this time," Driskell said. "She has spent the past four years as a governing partner to the most experienced president in history, and she's ready for the battle

A flood of governors and members of Congress have also jumped to support her. These so-called automatic delegates don't get to vote in the first round of voting, but will get to cast a vote if no candidate secures the nomination in the first round. They are not included in USA TODAY's count.

More:Harris pays tribute to Biden in first public remarks since launching campaign: Live updates

Pelosi of California, who played a pivotal but quiet role in getting Biden to step aside, said in a statement, "my enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for president is official, personal and political.”

The two highest ranking Hill Democrats have not yet endorsed Harris, but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York both left that door open Monday in a joint statement that they will meet with Biden's vice president soon. 

“Vice President Kamala Harris is off to a great start with her promise to pursue the presidential nomination in a manner consistent with the grassroots and transparent process set forth by the Democratic National Committee. She is rapidly picking up support from grassroots delegates from one end of the country to the other,” the Jeffries-Schumer joint statement said.

Harris secured the endorsement of all 23 Democratic governors by Monday evening.

Altogether, less than 50 Congressional Democrats have either not directly endorsed Harris or called for a open process at the convention where other candidates can be considered.