25 July 2024, Thursday, 16:52 193

Obama plans to support Harris for post of president soon - media

Editor: Daria Zubkova

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The former President of the United States, Barack Obama, plans to publicly support the candidacy of the incumbent Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, for the post of President in the near future.

This is reported by NBC News.

So, according to four people familiar with their conversations, former US President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris have remained in close contact since she announced her candidacy for the presidency on Sunday and have had several conversations on the matter this week, when she launched her election campaign.

Obama has privately fully supported Harris' candidacy and plans to support her in the near future, these people said.

"He's in regular contact with her and thinks she's off to a great start," one source said.

Obama is one of the few senior Democrats in the country who has yet to support Harris. While other party leaders have publicly support her, he has so far kept his support a secret.

People familiar with the discussions did not know the exact timing of his support. One said Obama didn't want it to overshadow President Joe Biden's moment, particularly his address to the nation in the Oval Office on Wednesday night.

Another person familiar with the discussion said Obama and Harris, who is eager to maintain the momentum her campaign has built among Democrats since she entered the race, wanted his endorsement to be her own moment.

Aides to Obama and Harris have also discussed the possibility of them speaking together on the campaign trail, although a date has not yet been set, three people familiar with the negotiations said.

Michelle Obama also supports Harris' candidacy, two people familiar with the matter said.

During their conversations in recent days, Obama offered Harris his advice on campaign management and other aspects of a successful run for the White House, something he did twice, people familiar with their conversations said.

After that, Harris quickly gained support across the country, and no one came forward to claim her nomination.

After Biden's speech at the June 27 debate, Obama privately expressed concern about his former Vice President's ability to defeat former President Donald Trump in November, NBC News reported. He did not publicly or privately call for Biden to stay in the race, though he did defend his debate performance, writing in an X post that he understands what it's like to perform poorly at a presidential debate.

Obama and Harris have known each other for many years. She was an early supporter of his 2008 campaign and was given the role of speaker at his 2012 nominating convention. Obama campaigned for Harris when she ran for attorney general in California and endorsed her when she ran for Senate in 2016.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the debate between US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled for September 10.

After announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race, Biden endorsed the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate.

On July 21, Trump said that, in his opinion, Vice President Kamala Harris will be easier to defeat in the November election than the incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden.

At the same time, Harris was two percentage points ahead of the US presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Donald Trump, in a national poll.