chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin,
thrilled to gather at this sea change moment
in American politics.
I'm thrilled to announce that the Democratic Party
of Wisconsin's governing body has voted unanimously
to officially endorse Kamala Harris
for president of the United States.
Meanwhile, more than 90% of Wisconsin's 95 delegates
have already pledged their support
for Vice President Harris at the convention,
including Senator Baldwin, Governor Evers,
every other statewide elected official
and member of our congressional delegation
and me personally.
Endorsements from our delegation continue to roll in
we're collecting these in real time as we speak.
I just got off an all staff call
where you could see the enormous excitement
and enthusiasm and energy in our extraordinary team
across every corner of the state of Wisconsin.
We've had a flood of online fundraising,
more than $140,000 in 24 hours
from nearly 2,000 grassroots donors
and the numbers just keep shooting up.
This comes on the heels of one of our best fundraising weeks
since the 2023 spring Supreme Court race.
We raised more than $190,000
during our cheddar storm endorsement fundraising drive,
which means that we are well past $300,000 in the last week.
This is a surge of energy.
We anticipate a surge of volunteers.
This morning, as I dropped my kids off at summer camp,
a fellow parent told me that as of today, her new policy
is that she will not attend any social gathering
where there's not at least some part of that event
devoted to ensuring that we win this election.
And in hearing from elected officials
across the state of Wisconsin,
hearing from Democratic Party activists,
hearing from donors, there is a surge of focus,
of enthusiasm, of a kind of flowering
of the kind of unity that we're going to need
to defeat Donald Trump and that we are absolutely going to have.
Like so many Democrats,
I have profound gratitude for President Biden's service
to our country and his leadership.
I honor a decision that must have been
unimaginably challenging to reach.
Now, President Biden has passed the torch.
He's endorsed Kamala Harris.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin
has endorsed Kamala Harris.
Our delegates are pledging in droves
to support Kamala Harris.
Vice President Harris is the candidate,
best positioned to defeat Donald Trump
and Kamala Harris is the candidate
who will defeat Donald Trump.
No one's better prepared than Vice President Harris,
a prosecutor to prosecute the case
against 34-time convicted felon, Donald Trump.
Nobody is better as a messenger on reproductive freedom
who's been traveling the country meeting
with people affected by abortion bans
and can now ensure that Trump's role
in overturning Roe versus Wade
is front and center in this election
and her commitment to restoring the freedoms protected
by Roe versus Wade is front and center
in what voters are choosing for this election.
Vice President Harris worked as a prosecutor.
Worked as a prosecutor.
She worked as a United States senator.
She worked as a vice president.
She is met with leaders in every corner of the world.
She is ready to represent the United States of America
on the world stage.
She represents the next generation
of the Democratic Party.
She can make the issue of age and rainness
to serve a four-year term a liability for Donald Trump.
This is a reset in the presidential election
and we have the upper hand.
Vice President Harris has already generated enormous support
from advocates for reproductive freedom,
for democracy, from young voters,
for LGBTQ rights organizations, from unions.
Our party is uniting around our new next nominee
and I have enormous confidence in what we're about to see.
Kamala Harris is going to win the Democratic nomination.
Kamala Harris is going to win Wisconsin
and Kamala Harris is going to be the next president
of the United States of America.
With that, I'm pleased to take any questions.
All right, we've got nine questions here.
John McCormick, you're up first.
I can't hear you, but you should be unmuted and able to ask
your question here.
John, are you able to speak?
If not, we will move over to Scott Bauer.
Scott, what are you?
Yeah, yep, hey Ben, thanks for doing this call.
Have you heard from any Wisconsin delegates
who specifically told you they're not ready to endorse
Vice President Harris yet,
or that they won't be endorsing her?
We have not heard from any delegates who won't be.
Different people are in different stages of reachability
and some are thinking through the timeline to endorse.
To make a public decision,
I have not heard anyone share with me
that they would oppose Vice President Harris
as the nominee of our party
and I have every confidence that as we move to November,
we will be fully united as a party.
I also want to share, Jason Ray is the,
well, I'll say that several people have obligations
and roles that complicate the process
of immediately making a call.
But we are seeing additional delegates
signed on to support in real time right now,
and we are so far enough about that unity and level of.
Next question.
Jared Vengeon.
Hey, I'm doing, thanks for the call.
Can you talk a little bit about how you see Harris
expanding the map in Wisconsin,
where she may do better than, say,
President Biden was doing?
We saw some polls, obviously, in the last couple of weeks
that showed either Biden losing or really close.
So can you talk a little bit about Harris' strengths
and specifically in Wisconsin?
Vice President Harris is a tremendous asset
to the campaign here in Wisconsin as our nominee.
She first has been a tremendous outspoken advocate
on the issue that was central in both 2022 and 2023,
the question of whether politicians or the women,
the people who are actually pregnant,
make decisions about what happens to their own bodies.
Secondly, as a prosecutor, she is a powerful foe
to a Donald Trump whose commitment to lawlessness
extends not just through the crimes that he committed
in order to gain office in 2016,
but to the crimes he fomented with the insurrection
after the 2020 election and so many others.
The third thing is that Vice President Harris
is a powerhouse, debater and communicator.
And we've seen that all the way through her political career,
she's able to bring a spotlight to the essential issues
and draw the essential contrast that will ensure
that we can win this election.
The last thing I'll say is that I worked
with Vice President Harris when I was a campaigner
working on the fight against the repeal
of the Affordable Care Act.
And I saw up close and personal how she was able
to mobilize people to take action
to prevent Republicans ripping away healthcare
from tens of millions of people.
I know that she brings that same energy and that same focus
and that same clarion called voice
to all of the fights for freedom and justice
with which she's engaged.
And I know that she'll do the same thing in Wisconsin.
We as a state want more freedom, not less.
We want democracy to work and not to be shredded.
We want an economy that works for working people,
not an economy where healthcare is ripped away,
social security and Medicare are cut
to give tax cuts to the billionaires.
And Vice President Harris can make that case
with enormous credibility, experience, focus and drive.
So we're so excited about her candidacy this November.
Next question.
Kate Morton with WISPAW.
Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Okay, perfect.
I had a quick question for you.
Leading up to President Biden dropping out.
Did you have any concerns that you were hearing
from Wisconsinites about his ability to win Wisconsin?
His ability to win Wisconsin.
And did you personally have concerns
about his ability to win Wisconsin?
President Biden has been such an effective president
of the United States.
President Biden delivered millions of jobs
across the country, hundreds of thousands
here in Wisconsin.
He beat back inflation more effectively
than any other world leader.
I felt tremendous confidence in his ability
to demonstrate through his record the contrast
with Donald Trump's and his vision for the future
that he could mobilize voters and win in our state.
I also know that for the last several weeks since the debate,
there was a conversation throughout the Democratic Party
throughout the country about whether this was the right moment
for him to continue.
And the focus on that conversation, rather than the focus
on prosecuting the case against Donald Trump and in favor
of the Biden-Harris vision for the future of the country,
created a challenge at a moment when it's so critical
for everyone to focus on moving forward.
I trust President Biden's judgment profoundly.
And I know that the decision that he made reflected
his utmost care that we defeat Donald Trump
and that we keep expanding freedom and fighting
for the soul of America.
So I trust the president's judgment
about the right path forward.
And now I'm excited to join Democrats across Wisconsin
and across the country to ensure that Kamala Harris
becomes our next president.
I don't know if you can hear me,
but to what can you do with the BIC?
Yes, I can hear you.
Perfect.
I'm hoping you might be able to speak to any instructions
that you've given the delegates either formal or informal
heading into the August convention at all.
The delegates,
many delegates have been in regular touch
and a bunch of us had conversations yesterday
and have a conversation with several more today.
The level of enthusiasm and focus is palpable.
This is a very fast-moving situation
and everyone's learning about the process in real time.
The Democratic National Committee has committed
to ensuring every delegate makes their own call.
And when Vice President Harris has the support
of the delegates needed to be the nominee,
she becomes the nominee.
It's an open process and at the same time as a state,
we can feel the energy surging to move forward
in the process and ensure that she is our nominee.
Just to know informal expectations
from the party placed on the delegates
to vote a certain way.
I have shared with several delegates
in our conversations,
it is their decision.
And I also know that my own enthusiasm for Vice President Harris
as our nominee,
I'm not sure about communicating that either.
I encourage every delegate to think through
Vice President Harris's prowess as a candidate
and as a campaigner.
And the power that comes from our work
to ensure that she can defeat Donald Trump.
And we're so excited to welcome Vice President Harris
here on Tuesday.
But this is a personal choice up to each delegate.
What we're seeing across the country
is for some thinking through the process,
getting their bearings.
And for so many,
it has a taking jump forward to pledge their delegation
to Kamala Harris to ensure that she has the nomination
of the party and is able to move forward to prosecute the case
against Trump.
Thank you.
Patrick Merley, Washington Post.
Hey Ben, thanks for doing this.
Two things I want to ask you.
One, what's the total number of pledges you have so far?
I know you said it was more than 90%.
But if you could put a minimal number on that, that'd be helpful.
And do you want to have a virtual roll call
rather than having these votes cast at the convention?
We are currently at 89,
which is 93.68% of the delegation and six outstanding
members.
I think clocked up one since the beginning of this press
conference.
And I know conversations continue.
I also know that it is critical that we have the democratic
nominee on in every state.
There's been a lot of conversation about the Ohio deadline,
the Ohio legislature instituted a law change that changes the,
the deadline for being nominated to September 1st,
but that law is only effective on August 31st,
which is a kind of weird legal gray zone.
And not leaving that to chance seems to me like an important
matter, especially given that we know that Democrats voting for
the president also have the opportunity to vote for other
Democrats up and on the ballot in that state.
And we want to give voters every reason to go out and fight
and cast a ballot.
There are other states as well across the country that have a
variety of different deadlines.
So I, I trust the, the Democratic National Committee team to
identify the best path to ensure that we have voters able to cast
a ballot for president, for vice president Harris this November
in every state.
And I think that's, I know that that's the basis for the decision
to hold a virtual roll call vote.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Uh, next question is.
Emily fan and CBS 58.
Hey, Ben, I know you've been addressing this of how many
delegates are on board.
So thanks for the numbers there.
Cause I did hear from some people who are just not there quite
yet.
So is it fair to say that the Wisconsin delegation is,
is not completely unified and on that call last night was their
discussion about, uh, having an open convention come August.
The, um,
the.
At this point, more than 93% of the delegates have pledged their
support for vice president Harris.
Uh, I know of no delegate who.
Plans to vote against vice president Harris.
And it is entirely up to individual delegates.
The, the, the moment at which they, um, formalize their,
their intentions for this November.
So I want to, I want to honor that, that individual decision-making.
And I will say that the, the level of unity and energy is
through the roof.
Um, I also know that yesterday when delegates were talking,
we were talking through in a moment when many had were just
catching up on how all these different pieces work, what it
looks like, what a, what the process is for nominating the
Democratic nominee.
If there's a, uh,
overwhelming majority of delegates already pledged and,
and supportive of vice president Harris, uh,
then vice president Harris becomes the presumptive nominee.
That was true of president Biden.
He'd not yet been formally endorsed, but we already knew from
the pledge delegates that came from the primaries that he was the,
uh, presumptive nominee of the Democratic party.
Uh, so that, uh, that possibility could, uh, come, you know,
sometime between now and, and August, what a virtual roll call, uh,
would be potentially slated to begin. And at that point, uh,
we already know what the outcome of the convention would be.
Um, and, uh, at that point, people casting their ballots would
formalize Kamala Harris as our nominee, then she would move
forward and, uh, formally accept the nomination at the national
convention in Chicago. Uh, so a lot of delegates have questions
about what the process is, what the timing is. Um,
all that is totally understandable because this is all new stuff
that we are learning in real time in a, in a moment in history
that I think has a lot of people's head spinning and, uh,
we want to make sure people have that full information, um,
that they know that the, that delegates have their choice as to,
you know, whether to sign on and endorse Vice President Harris.
Uh, I think the, the, uh,
the opportunity for us to come together as a party to,
to demonstrate our unity and our enthusiasm to support President Harris,
uh, is a, is an opportunity that many delegates,
more than 90% of the Wisconsin delegates have already left towards
and I'm hearing the same thing from many other state party chairs that
are being an overwhelming response from the delegates in their state.
But, uh, Charlie Pittman at the VRT.
Oh, and I can't hear you.
Sorry about that. Hi, Ben. Hello.
Only been a couple of days. Thanks for doing this. Um,
you just made reference to this historic moment.
And I'm wondering if you can talk more about the when and how you found out
that President Biden had stepped out of this race.
I like the vast majority of Americans found out when President Biden
posted his tweet that he had decided not to pursue the nomination
of the Democratic Party for another term as president.
Uh, and then I found out when he posted his next tweet that he was endorsing
Vice President Harris to be his successor as the Democratic nominee
and, uh, as the next president of the United States.
Um, I've read news accounts that the decision was made over the weekend
and communicated to, um, you know,
a large number of people right at that exact same moment through,
through the tweet that the president posted. Um, and then I,
yesterday you could, you could see the outpouring of appreciation
and support for President Biden, um,
recognizing that this is a decision made out of his love of country.
Uh, choosing country over himself in a real act of patriotism that we've
really seen from anyone around the world. Um, that was the, the first set of
things that passed through my mind after I saw that message online. Um,
and of course my phone was exploding and my screen was going on.
I lit up with different notifications.
It was a moment that really changed the history of politics in the United
States. And with Vice President Harris's nomination,
we have an opportunity to create another moment of change that, uh,
moves us forward as a nation.
Uh, next question, uh, uh, Stephanie from scripts.
Hi.
Uh, leave her again. I didn't, I don't want you to,
I'm trying to challenge in that last one. Um,
I'm going to leave her again in the last name.
Nice Wisconsin last name. Um,
curious who you would like to see.
Presuming Harris does take the top of the ticket.
Who would you like to see her pick as a running mate?
Who do you think would appeal to Wisconsin voters?
Uh, I have enormous confidence in Vice President Harris's judgment and her,
um,
uh,
her acuity in selecting a vice presidential nominee who first and foremost would be
an effective president if, uh, if, if called upon to serve.
And secondly, who would inspire and, and energize voters across the state of Wisconsin.
Uh, I will leave it to her and her team to identify who meets those two critical criteria.
Do you think she should make that decision before the virtual roll call vote?
Uh, I, uh, leave it entirely to her judgment.
This is uncharted territory. Um, and I know that, uh,
she's probably thinking through a million things at this moment,
and this is very much one of them.
Thanks, Ben.
Uh, John McCormick for Wall Street Journal. Do you want to try again and see if the audio can work?
Oh, I think you might have left.
All right. Uh, Rita.
Hi. So, um,
Republicans spent the last week unifying around Donald Trump.
Um, and we saw a lot of, uh, split support for Biden.
Um, including representative Pokan calling him for calling for him to step down.
Um, so how, how exactly are you not only going to unify the party,
but sway the voters who are still on the fence as a lot of independent voters in Wisconsin.
Are really going to be important.
I will share that over the past few weeks, uh, different Democrats and different positions.
Uh, and I think that, uh,
those politicians have shared their concerns about, uh,
the question of the path forward for former president Biden.
All of them, everyone who spoke to me,
conveyed to me that first that if president Biden was the nominee in November,
that they would absolutely support him to defeat Donald Trump and second,
that they would devote every waking hour to making sure that Trump advanced did not
become the leaders of this country.
And it's very important to us to, to, to, to, to, to the fundamental idea of America,
to the idea of a freedom in people's personal lives over their own bodies,
the threat to democracy, the threat to a functioning government that serves regular people rather than billion their special interests.
That has always been a uniting force.
The conversation within the Democratic party has not been one about the weather.
It was urgently important to unite and defeat Donald Trump.
It was a question about the best way to do that.
And my sense is that there is overwhelming unity that you can see coming into existence before our eyes around supporting Vice President Harris to make sure that she can defeat Donald Trump and JD Vance.
And what we saw at the Republican convention was a party that believed it couldn't lose.
You saw that in Donald Trump's choice of JD Vance, the most extreme of his options.
Someone committed to a 100% national abortion ban and who said that he would not have certified the 2020 election results if he'd been vice president.
That's who Trump chose because Donald Trump thought that he had it in the bag.
He thought he didn't have to persuade a single person who didn't already agree with him that they should come his way.
Vice President Harris knows that the positions that she and President Biden have advocated for the future of freedom and opportunity and democracy in our country.
That's something that has brought appeal to some Republicans, to many independents and to the overwhelming majority, nearly every Democrat unites around those fundamental ideas.
And that's the opportunity going forward is to bring together the anti mega coalition that is now has the opportunity to be the Kamala Harris coalition, and to win a resounding blow for freedom and democracy and opportunity for regular folks across the country, across the state up
and down the ballot.
And then real quick, what's going to be the hardest sell for those unsure voters, such as like an issue like immigration.
I think at this moment, a lot of voters across the state and across America will be finding themselves reintroduced to vice president Harris.
This is a chance to begin a new conversation. And for so many voters, you know, they've been, they've been focused on Trump versus Biden.
Now it's a question of Kamala Harris versus Joe Biden and we have a chance.
Now it's a question of Kamala Harris versus Donald Trump. And we have a chance to reintroduce voters to Kamala Harris to lay out what she's done, and most critically what she plans to do as president.
So the, the big opportunity in a moment like this is to have a new conversation with, with somebody who is has the opportunity this Tuesday tomorrow in Milwaukee, to lay out the case against Trump and the case for what she plans to do when she's elected President of the United States.
I think Americans across Wisconsin across this country are going to be thrilled by what they hear.
Thanks so much. Thank you.
Aaron Navarro CBS news.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good to talk to you again.
Two quick things and you maybe just answered it.
So forgive me.
I know as reported last week, Vice President Harris will be in Milwaukee.
Is that still on?
And do you want to see President Biden be involved still and be on the campaign trail and these closing 100 days? It's been a pretty tough political month for him.
To the second question, I think this is an all hands on deck moment from President Biden to former presidents to current and former office holders up and down the ballot to grassroots activists and volunteers to people in civil society who think that freedom
and democracy are important who think that our economy should give regular folks a fair shot.
I think the more voices that that come to join this national conversation, the better, because politics is not a spectator sport. It's a life sport, like pickleball, it's something that everyone can be involved in.
And the more people are involved, the more effective will be and ensuring that Vice President Harris defeats Donald Trump this fall.
Simone path from CNN.
Hey there, thanks for doing this. Can you talk about what effect the change at the top of the ticket will have specifically on the Senate race in Wisconsin.
Tammy Baldwin announced her endorsement for Vice President Harris yesterday.
They were colleagues, of course, as President Biden was with Tammy Baldwin so was, or no, let me rephrase that.
When Senator Baldwin was elected.
President Biden was the Vice President in the United States. But when Vice President Harris was elected, she joined Tammy Baldwin in the Senate. And I worked with the two of them when they were fighting against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
I know each other as working colleagues, they got a sense in the same body of each other's values and how to work together. And I think there'll be a dynamic duo out on the campaign trail in the state of Wisconsin, as we go through these last 103 days.
I have a question via chat from Scott Bauer. Can you clarify how many of the 85 delegates are pledged delegates and not alternates or super delegates.
And I can ask my team to calculate so we can we can share that information.
There's, there are automatic delegates like governors and senators.
There are district level delegates who are elected to the districts. There's at large delegates.
None of those delegates in the 85 are alternates. Alternates don't have the
vote unless a regular delegate steps down and an alternate is elevated to fill their position. So they're all voting delegates, but we can, we can pull the breakdown across the different types of delegates.
And I think the spirit behind the question is there's different rules if there's a
around who gets to vote on the first ballot, depending on how many people have pledged. So we can, we can get the numbers and get the context for it.
Next, next question. Will can you, I see your Henry re raised back to you.
Thanks so much. We'd heard from some voters wondering why Democrats might not pursue going back to a primary process to let voters directly wait in on this.
Again, since Biden stepped down. I don't know if you'd want to touch on that.
Why Democrats might not be pursuing that option.
Well, we are 103 days out for the presidential election.
We have a process if there's a vacancy in the presidential nominee, which is that the delegates to the national convention decide who the next Democratic nominee will be.
And what we're seeing what I'm announcing today is the delegates one by one are making that decision. We're seeing a surge of support for vice president Harris.
If you'd asked me yesterday, I, you know, I would have been speculating about the kind of response that we would see. If you'd asked me at this time, I guess it was 15 minutes after President Biden's announcement.
It was not yet clear how the country would react to this moment. What we're seeing is a reaction of unity and clarity around vice president Harris. And so the process that was laid out, I guess, starting in the spring of 2023 with
the Republican election plans from every state that was admitted to the Democratic National Committee as a party. If the presidential nominee declines the nomination, the delegates to the national convention, many of whom were elected either by voters to public office or by the
Democrats who showed up at the district level caucus meetings across the state, the Democrats to the national convention decide on the party's nominee and voters decide on their choice between the nominees from the parties.
Aaron Navarro, I'll go back to you.
Oh, that was actually it. I don't know. Maybe I forgot to lower my hand. Sorry, Joe.
Virtual hand remain raised. Okay. Any other questions before we call it a wrap. Patrick Marley I see your hands back up over to back to you.
Thanks. I'm sorry I got, I got lost in the numbers I thought you originally said there were 89 of 95 and then there was a mention of 85 so.
The number is 89 have endorsed six outstanding out of 95. So that is the current.
I think it might have been lower than that when we started the call, but that is that is where we are.
Great. Thank you.
Okay, we will wrap it up here. Thank you everyone for joining us really delighted to share this news with everyone and look forward to seeing potentially many of you when Vice President Harris visits Wisconsin tomorrow.
Thanks all.
Thank you.