Mass. Democratic Party delegates vote unanimously to back Harris as presidential nominee

The Massachusetts Democratic Party unanimously voted Monday evening to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's 2024 presidential nominee following President Biden's stunning decision to bow out of the race.

"I'm not surprised. Vice President Harris has been a fantastic supporter of Massachusetts — and of the Democratic Party in general," state party Chair Steve Kerrigan told Morning Edition. "We were ready once the president dropped out of the race to support her and his strong endorsement meant a lot to us."

Massachusetts will send 116 delegates and eight alternates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from Aug. 19 to 22.

He added state party members are focused on ensuring "we are organized and ready to beat [former President] Donald Trump and [Sen.] JD Vance," the duo topping the Republican Party's presidential ticket.

As NPR reported, Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said this week that party officials would hold an electronic roll call vote on the party's next nominee ahead of the convention on Aug. 7.

At his first solo appearance on the campaign trail in Ohio Monday, Vance characterized Democrats's ongoing process of selecting a new nominee as un-democratic, saying "elite Democrats got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard."

Kerrigan pushed back against Vance's assertion.

"This is the most open convention we've had in modern times," Kerrigan said. "What happened was we had 4,700 pledged delegates — all pledged, for the most part, to Joe Biden after 14 million people voted in our primaries and our congressional caucuses elected our delegates... And those delegates, what happened once Joe Biden decided not to run for reelection, they were freed up to vote for whoever they wanted. So this was not a coronation, this was about organization."

Kerrigan has served as chair of the state party since April of 2023.