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By Adam Friedman

Tennessee Lookout

(Editor’s note: This story has been updated.)

Tennessee delegates to the Democratic National Convention pledged to back Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the U.S. Presidential race Sunday.

Chip Forrester, an at-large delegate to the convention and co-chair of the Biden-Harris Southern Finance Committee, said after Biden endorsed Harris that it would make sense for all the party’s delegates to unite behind the Vice President.

“(President Biden) clearly has been struggling and thinking about this in great detail over the last few weeks, but  I’m extremely pleased he has endorsed Kamala Harris and it would be awfully difficult to not strongly support her,” said Forrester. “The campaign can transfer the $250 million (in campaign funds) to her which would give her a strong advantage.”

After lackluster debate performance in late June, the 81-year-old Biden started to face calls from fellow Democrats to drop out of the race.

But Biden had maintained he’d stay in the race for nearly three weeks.

The calls for departure only increased as former Donald Trump widened his lead in the polls since the debate and through the Republican National Convention held last week.

FiveThirtyEight’s national polling averages have Trump up 43.5% to 40.2%.

Then last Wednesday, Biden announced that he had COVID, returned home to Delaware to isolate, and stopped campaigning. The pressure continued, especially from top Democrats like former President Barack Obama and former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, both leaking to the media that they thought Biden could no longer win.

Finally Sunday, Biden relented and endorsed Harris as his successor.

“I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”

The President’s departure from the race creates an unprecedented event. No presidential candidate has ever dropped out of the race this close to the convention or election.

Harris is considered the frontrunner to win the open convention because of the advantage she would have over access to Biden’s current campaign war chest. But she is not guaranteed to be the nominee come the August 19 to 22 Democratic National Convention.

By not accepting the nomination, Biden’s delegates are released and allowed to vote for whoever they want. But shortly after Biden’s announcement, the Tennessee Democratic Party held a conference call with its delegation, which voted unanimously to support Harris.

There are 4,672 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and Tennessee has 70 of them. It will take 1,968 pledged delegates to win any nomination process.

Some of the prominent delegates to the convention from Tennessee are former Vice President Al Gore, Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon, Memphis Mayor Paul Young, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, Memphis state House Minority Leader Rep. Karen Camper, and Memphis state Senator Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari.

Other state representatives serving as delegates to the convention include Vincent Dixie of Nashville and Memphis Democrats Harold Love and Justin Pearson.

So far, Tennessee’s delegates said they plan to back Harris.

“I whole-heartedly support Vice President Harris,” said Metro Nashville School Board Member Freda Player, a convention delegate. “A woman of color is on the ballot to be President of the United States. She has local, state, and federal governing experience. She is uniquely qualified to be President of the United States of America for all people. She is the future of our party. I cannot wait to vote for her nomination at the Democratic Convention. ”

Chattanooga delegate Chris Anderson also weighed in for Harris.

“For over 50 years Joe Biden has done what he thought is best for Americans and today is no different and he wants to protect us from Donald Trump and Project 2025, said Anderson. “While it’s fun to talk about the great governors, mayors and senators in the Democratic Party, it’s clear that one choice rises above the rest and I’ll be proudly casting my  vote for Kamala Harris.”

 

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.