Vice President Kamala Harris, compaigns throughout the nation as the presumptive candidate for president representing the Democratic Party. PHOTOS COURTESY OF FACEBOOK.COM/KAMALAHARRIS
Miami – The GOP had its Republican National Convention last month in Wisconsin, where former President Trump accepted his party’s nomination, picked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, and unleashed a relentless verbal attack at the expense of President Joseph Biden.
Now it’s the Democrats turn.
And the stakes couldn’t be any higher since Biden dropped his reelection bid after calls from Democrats who were concerned with a debate performance against Trump, and whether he is able to serve another four-year term. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to be the nominee for president.
She will take center stage at the Democratic National Convention Aug. 19-22 in Chicago at the United Center, when she will accept the party’s nomination and officially nominate her vice president.
Harris, previously a senator from California, is the Democrats best shot to beat Trump in November, and Harris received an endorsement from former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to build momentum.
Since the announcement to enter the race, Harris has raised over $200 million in campaign contributions and sparked a nationwide women’s movement throwing their unwavering support behind the person they want to see become the first-ever woman U.S. president.
In addition, Trump and Harris are neck in neck in most polls.
Harris has a slight edge with independent voters in a two-way race, with 47 percent backing the vice president, 45 percent behind Trump and 7 percent up for grabs, according to a CNN poll.
In a WDIV/ Detroit News poll, Trump didn’t receive a Black vote among Michigan voters, while the two each mustered 41 percent of support from the state.
Trump didn’t waste any time attacking Biden and Harris after her decision to seek the Democratic nomination for president.
After Biden’s announcement to exit the race, Trump called him the worst President in U.S. history who failed the nation with the economy, inflation, the border crisis, and his handle on the war in Israel.
During a rally in Michigan last week, Trump called Harris crazy, which drew outrage on social media.
"Kamala, I call her laughing Kamala," Trump said. "Have you seen her laughing? She is crazy. You can tell a lot by a laugh. She is nuts. She is not as crazy as Nancy Pelosi.”
Florida is a key battleground state where Trump beat Biden by a 3.4 point margin in 2020 but lost the election.
Harris is seeking to cut into Trump’s home base in November, who lives at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach County.
Harris is no stranger to South Florida having visited here on several occasions during her vice presidency.
In March 2024, Harris visited the bloodstained building at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where 17 students and teachers were killed and another 17 people seriously injured in a shooting massacre in 2018.
At the site, Harris announced a program to assist states that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize guns from people judges have found to be dangerous.
Harris saw the halls and classrooms inside the three-story structure remain strewn with shoes left behind by fleeing students and wilted Valentine’s Day flowers and balloons.
“Frozen in time,” Harris said repeatedly about what she saw. She was accompanied on the tour by victims’ family members, some of them pushing for more spending on school safety and others for stronger gun laws.
The building was torn down in June.
Harris was also in town to discuss climate change and plans the Biden administration was proposing to fight the threat of sea level rise.
And she stood for women’s rights to an abortion after the U.S. State Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022, eliminating a right to have an abortion.
The ruling allowed states to enact their own abortion laws with Florida banning abortion after six months which sparked protests statewide among women’s rights groups.
"Women in Florida became the subject to an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant, which by the way, tells us the extremists who wrote the ban either don’t know how a woman’s body works or they simply don’t care," Harris said in Jacksonville in May 2024. "Trump says he wants to leave abortion up to the states. He says up to the states. We all know if Donald Trump gets the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban."
U.S. Rep. Fredrica Wilson, a Democrat from Miami who’s a staunch Bident supporter, will be stumping for Harris as well as State Senator Shervin Jones, who is also chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
Wilson said she wants to see Harris make history.
"Kamala Harris has served as an extraordinary vice president, has been part of this history-making administration, and will make history as the first Black woman to hold the presidency," Wilson said. " She is more than qualified to be president, having served as vice president, U.S. senator, California’s attorney general, and district attorney of San Francisco. She is tested, ready and I’m proud to stand with our next president of the United States."
Jones said it’s time for Democrats to unite in support of Harris.
"She has my full support as the leader needed to meet this moment and defeat Donald Trump," Jones said.
Trump said he’s prepared to debate Harris once she accepts her party’s nomination.
"I will be absolutely willing to debate her," Trump said on social media.
Harris accepted.
“I’m ready to debate Donald Trump,” she told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “I have agreed to the previously agreed upon Sept. 10 debate. He agreed to that previously. Now, it appears he is backpedaling but I’m ready.”
At the campaign mega rally in Atlanta on Tuesday, Harris affirmed Trump’s reluctance to participate in a debate. She called on Trump who talks negatively about Harris, "if you got something to say, say it to my face." The massive crowd roared with laughter and approval.
Trump picked Vance as his running mate over Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
Choosing Vance drew a chorus of cheers from Republicans who see him as a political leader whose policies mirror the direction the GOP is headed.
"I am pleased to hear that President Donald J. Trump chose JD Vance to be our next VP," said U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz Balart (RMiami). "Vance is a great choice to serve as VP and along with President Trump will once again help Make America Great Again."
But Vance drew backlash after his nomination for a 2021 remark about top Democrats such as Harris, being "childless cat ladies."
He defended his comment saying it was about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-children.
"Obviously it was a sarcastic comment. People are focusing so much on sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said," Vance told conservative media personality Megyn Kelly during an interview last week.
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