Texas’ delegates to the Democratic National Convention voted overwhelmingly – 260 to 6 – on Monday night to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in her presidential bid. Harris announced her candidacy on Sunday after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in the face of public pressure.
Texas will send one of the largest groups of delegates to Chicago for the DNC in August. While their votes in Monday’s virtual meeting aren’t binding, it’s clear an overwhelming majority of the group support Harris’ candidacy.
Jasmine Crockett, who represents Dallas in Congress, is among the Democrats doing all she can to make sure Harris is elected in November. Crockett said she maintained her support for Biden until the end of his campaign and felt it was important that his decision to drop out be his call.
“The way that this all transpired still really hits me a little bit differently, emotionally. But overall, if you know Joe Biden like I know Joe Biden, you know that he’s a good person,” she said. “You know that he always puts country first. And I really applaud him for making a very difficult decision, especially considering the current climate.”
Crockett has since thrown her support behind Harris, who she sees as the only viable option going forward.
“One of the things about those that were calling for the president to step aside, I kept saying, please explain to me what your plan is?” she said. “Understanding the timelines that we’re facing in various states to legally make sure that we’re in really good standing and we don’t have to worry. We know that the Republicans have already said that they are ready to sue, they’re about to sue.
“And so we really needed to make sure that this Trump Supreme Court didn’t have an opportunity to further decimate our democracy – in addition to really trying to get this done in an orderly fashion.”
» MORE: From high praise to calls for immediate resignation, Texas officials react to Biden decision
Crockett said Harris is in the best position to take over Biden’s existing campaign infrastructure. A different candidate would basically have to start from scratch in many ways, she said.
“We’re talking about someone potentially having to re-engineer an entire presidential campaign and about a little over three months. I mean, it is hard enough for someone to run in a two-year period for president,” she said. “They don’t inherit the infrastructure. They don’t inherit the dollars that have been raised by the Biden-Harris ticket.
“And so you’re talking about someone having to set up from scratch. It is not realistic that someone who’s never run for president before would be successful at doing it at lightning speed.”
Harris can also run on her accomplishments during her long-standing political career, including her time as vice president.
“I also think she’s just uniquely qualified, because we know that there’s one thing that scares Donald Trump, and that is a prosecutor. He’s seen a few recently, and they all seem to do very well, so long as they are given a jury that is able to judge him,” Crockett said. “And ultimately, I think that the jurors, also known as the American people, will have an opportunity to judge him again at the hands of a prosecutor. “
Crockett said Harris has shown her values over her time in the Senate and as the Senate tiebreaker over the last four years.
“We’re talking about someone who has continuously shattered glass ceilings, in the form of being elected. She was elected as a prosecutor in the Bay area; that is the first time that I ever heard of her,” Crockett said. “As a Black female lawyer, this was someone who was like a beacon of hope, an inspiration for me back years.
“Over the last 3 1/2 years, they’ve been able to see her govern. They’ve been able to hear her voice on things that matter, such as reproductive access, where she’s been out front and center. She’s heading our newly formed gun violence intervention office within the White House. These are issues that the American people care about. She’s able to speak to those issues because she’s been speaking to those issues, and she’s been doing the work.”
» GET MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE: Sign up for Texas Standard’s weekly newsletters
Crockett was also part of a massive organizing call on Sunday in which more than 40,000 Black women got on a Zoom to strategize about getting Harris elected.
“It was like the All-Star Game of Black women in politics,” she said. “It was amazing because you had generations of politicians, you had generations of strategists, generations of organizers, and we were all standing together in one voice. And that’s what it’s going to take is actual unity, right?
“We saw what happened at the RNC. They spoke of unity. But what you’re seeing is a demonstration of unity – those that understand, as we would say, the assignments and what needs to be done to get this done.
“So we not only came together to really talk about what it’s going to take to make sure that Vice President Harris becomes President Harris, but we also made sure we put our money where our mouths were. We made sure that we raised well over $1 million. It was historic. It was encouraging. It was uplifting.”
Crockett said a group of Black men had a similar call on Monday.
“We will come together, we will work, we will organize, we will win. And that is what’s most important. Not because of who Kamala Harris is, but because of who we are in this country and because we want to send a clear message of what it is that we will stand for in this country,” she said. “We will continue to be the beacon of hope that the rest of the world looks to, and we will continue to be the inspiration for the rest of the world.
“The other side is not offering anything positive, and we are going to make sure that we outline their negativity, but we’re also going to counter that with all of the positive things that this vice president, soon to be president, will do for all of us.”
