RICHMOND, Va. -- Vice President Kamala Harris is now considered the front-runner on the path to be the Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. If officially nominated, she would make history as the first Black, Asian-American woman to lead a major party presidential ticket.
Harris has garnered the support of top Democrats since President Joe Biden announced he would be dropping out of the race and endorsed her in his stead. According to @KamalaHQ on X, the Harris campaign raised $81 million in the last 24 hours.
The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC) announced on Monday that every member will serve as a delegate for the 2024 Democratic National Convention pledged their support to Harris.
"The truth is, is that it is overwhelming, but it is the most exciting thing," Virginia House Delegate Destiny LeVere Bolling (D - Henrico County) said.
Watch: President Biden exits the race. Is Virginia still in play?
"I didn't think it would happen this soon," said Reverend Cozy Bailey, President of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. "It will prove that the amendment that was made to give the first African Americans the vote and then later on giving women the vote, was probably much later in our country's maturing than it should have been."
Kelly Dittmer, a researcher with the Center for American Women and Politics said Harris being a Black woman may not ultimately sway undecided voters.
"We know that identity alone, so whether it be gender, racial identities, aren't going to make people switch their vote from one party to the other," Dittmer said. "Folks aren't voting purely along the lines of identity, they very much care about ideology and party. But within that party dynamic, right, and the shift from Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, an older white male, who is very much, to many people, represented a status quo, having somebody who is younger, obviously a woman, somebody who represents more historically underrepresented racial communities, that can absolutely be energizing."
Dittmer said the battle for the White House will not come without targeted language used against Harris because of her gender.
"Historically, we have plenty of evidence, both anecdotally as well as in research, that women are evaluated differently than men when they run for office, and that's across a lot of different points and accuracies like issue expertise, competency, appearance," Dittmer said. "We are more likely to be willing to vote for men we don't like. But for women, we associate likability directly with qualifications."
Despite voting trends, Bolling said she believed most voters can get behind a Black, female President, citing the amount of money pouring into her campaign.
“As a Black woman, it is incredibly powerful, it is fulfilling, and it is time," Bolling said.
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