Less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden officially exited the 2024 presidential campaign, VP Kamala Harris is out of the gates, raising cash, and hoping to unify support from Democrats for her candidacy.
To that end, a rally is happening outside San Francisco City Hall Monday morning to show support for Bay Area native Kamala Harris, who not that long ago was just a local district attorney and not in line for the presidency.
The rally, which you can RSVP for here, starts at 9 am Monday on the steps of City Hall.
"When your homegrown California girl becomes the preferred candidate for the United States, you've got to throw a party," says Emma Heiken, vice chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, speaking to SFGate.
On the rally invite, the SF DCCC says, "President Biden has courageously stepped aside and created a path for Vice President Harris to become the Democratic Party nominee. San Francisco Democrats stand proudly behind Kamala Harris."
The New York Times reports that Biden's exit from the race has "reenergized" Silicon Valley Democrats and donors, after Donald Trump seemed to be making headway with the likes of Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk and David Sacks.
But there are some billionaires with consciences in Silcon Valley who don't have culture-war axes to grind, and who were perhaps outraged by the catastrophe and chaos of January 6th. And these few bombastic, wealthy voices don't exactly represent the whole industry.
"You have people with the loudest voices claiming to speak for the broader community, and the views don’t match," says VC founder Katie Jacobs Stanton, speaking to the Times. "By no means do they line up with the thousands of founders and employees and investors who live and work in Silicon Valley."
A lot of Democratic donors will be energized by this seismic change in the race, even if there is still nervousness about Harris as a candidate.
Small donations are flowing in as well. The Times reports that ActBlue raised over $80 million in less than 24 hours after Biden's announcement, and about $50 million of that was directly for the Harris campaign. This marked the third-highest single day of donations in ActBlue's history, and Monday is on pace to be a huge day as well.
The second-highest single donation day in ActBlue's history came after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, shortly before the 2020 election.
Previously: It's Happened: Joe Biden Drops Out of 2024 Race
Top image: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on July 10, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. The Vice President spoke to approximately 20,000 members from her sorority in a continued effort to rally support ahead of the upcoming November Presidential election. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
