Harris could become the first female president after years of breaking racial and gender barriers

WASHINGTON (AP) — She's already broken barriers, and now Kamala Harris could shatter several more after President Joe Biden abruptly ended his reelection bid and endorsed her.

Biden announced Sunday that he was stepping aside after a disastrous debate performance catalyzed fears that the 81-year-old was too frail for a second term.

Harris is the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president. If she becomes the Democratic nominee and defeats Republican candidate Donald Trump in November, she would be the first woman to serve as president.

Biden said Sunday that choosing Harris as his running mate was “the best decision I've made" and endorsed her as his successor.

“Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump,” he wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Let’s do this.”

Harris described Biden's decision to step aside as a “selfless and patriotic act,” saying he was “putting the American people and our country above everything else.”

“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination," Harris said. “Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election.”

Prominent Democrats followed Biden's lead by swiftly coalescing around Harris on Sunday. However, her nomination is not a foregone conclusion, and there have been suggestions that the party should hold a lightning-fast “mini primary” to consider other candidates before its convention in Chicago next month.

A recent poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Harris would do a good job in the top slot. About 2 in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

The poll showed that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of Harris, whose name is pronounced “COMM-a-la,” while about half have an unfavorable opinion.

A former prosecutor and U.S. senator from California, Harris' own bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination imploded before a single primary vote was cast. She later became Biden's running mate, but she struggled to find her footing after taking office as vice president. Assigned to work on issues involving migration from Central America, she was repeatedly blamed by Republicans for problems with illegal border crossings.

However, Harris found more prominence as the White House's most outspoken advocate for abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. She has also played a key role in reaching out to young people and voters of color.

In addition, Harris' steady performance after Biden's debate debacle solidified her standing among Democrats in recent weeks.

Even before Biden's endorsement, Harris was widely viewed as the favorite to replace him on the ticket. With her foreign policy experience and national name recognition, she has a head start over potential challengers, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Harris will seek to avoid the fate of Hubert Humphrey, who as vice president won the Democratic nomination in 1968 after President Lyndon Johnson declined to run for reelection amid national dissatisfaction over the Vietnam War. Humphrey lost that year to Republican Richard Nixon.

Nixon resigned in 1974 during the Watergate scandal and was replaced by Vice President Gerald Ford. Ford never won a term of his own.

Vice presidents are always in line to step into the top job if the president dies or is incapacitated. However, Harris has faced an unusual level of scrutiny because of Biden’s age. He was the oldest president in history, taking office at 78 and announcing his reelection bid at 80. Harris is 59.

She addressed the question of succession in an interview with The Associated Press during a trip to Jakarta in September 2023.

“Joe Biden is going to be fine, so that is not going to come to fruition,” she stated. “But let us also understand that every vice president — every vice president — understands that when they take the oath they must be very clear about the responsibility they may have to take over the job of being president.”

“I’m no different.”

Harris was born Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, to parents who met as civil rights activists. Her hometown and nearby Berkeley were at the heart of the racial and social justice movements of the time, and Harris was both a product and a beneficiary.

She spoke often about attending demonstrations in a stroller and growing up around adults “who spent full time marching and shouting about this thing called justice.” In first grade, she was bused to school as part of the second class to integrate Berkeley public education.

Harris’ parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother alongside her younger sister, Maya. She attended Howard University, a historically Black school in Washington, and joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, which became a source of sisterhood and political support over the years.

After graduating, Harris returned to the San Francisco Bay Area for law school and chose a career as a prosecutor, a move that surprised her activist family.

She said she believed that working for change inside the system was just as important as agitating from outside. By 2003, she was running for her first political office, taking on the longtime San Francisco district attorney.

Few city residents knew her name, and Harris set up an ironing board as a table outside grocery stores to meet people. She won and quickly showed a willingness to chart her own path. Months into her tenure, Harris declined to seek the death penalty for the killer of a young police officer slain in the line of duty, fraying her relationship with city cops.

The episode did not stop her political ascent. In late 2007, while still serving as district attorney, she was knocking on doors in Iowa for then-candidate Barack Obama. After he became president, Obama endorsed her in her 2010 race for California attorney general.

Once elected to statewide office, she pledged to uphold the death penalty despite her moral opposition to it. She refused to defend Proposition 8, a voter-backed initiative banning same-sex marriage. Harris also played a key role in a $25 billion settlement with the nation’s mortgage lenders following the foreclosure crisis.

As killings of young Black men by police received more attention, Harris implemented some changes, including tracking racial data in police stops, but didn’t pursue more aggressive measures such as requiring independent prosecutors to investigate police shootings.

Harris’ record as a prosecutor would eventually dog her when she launched a presidential bid in 2019, as some progressives and younger voters demanded swifter change. But during her time on the job, she also forged a fortuitous relationship with Beau Biden, Joe Biden’s son who was then Delaware’s attorney general. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015, and his friendship with Harris figured heavily years later as his father chose Harris to be his running mate.

Harris married entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff in 2014, and she became stepmother to Emhoff’s two children, Ella and Cole, who referred to her as “Momala.”

Harris had a rare opportunity to advance politically when Sen. Barbara Boxer, who had served more than two decades, announced she would not run again in 2016.

In office, Harris quickly became part of the Democratic resistance to Trump and gained recognition for her pointed questioning of his nominees. In one memorable moment, she pressed now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on whether he knew any laws that gave government the power to regulate a man’s body. He did not, and the line of questioning galvanized women and abortion rights activists.

A little more than two years after becoming a senator, Harris announced her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. But her campaign was marred by infighting and she failed to gain traction, ultimately dropping out before the Iowa caucuses.

Eight months later, Biden selected Harris as his running mate. As he introduced her to the nation, Biden reflected on what her nomination meant for “little Black and brown girls who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities.”

“Today, just maybe, they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way, as the stuff of presidents and vice presidents,” he said.

Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this story.

Florida State University women's soccer player Jordynn Dudley speaks from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, as Vice President Kamala Harris looks on, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is Harris' first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., pass each other as Harris moves to the podium to speak during a campaign event in Wilmington, Del., Aug. 12, 2020. She’s already broken barriers, and now Vice President Harris could soon become the first Black woman to head a major party's presidential ticket after President Joe Biden’s ended his reelection bid. The 59-year-old Harris was endorsed by Biden on Sunday, July 21, after he stepped aside amid widespread concerns about the viability of his candidacy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - President Joe Biden walks with Vice President Kamala Harris after speaking on updated guidance on face mask mandates and COVID-19 response, in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 13, 2021, in Washington. She’s already broken barriers, and now Harris could soon become the first Black woman to head a major party's presidential ticket after President Joe Biden’s ended his reelection bid. The 59-year-old Harris was endorsed by Biden on Sunday, July 21, after he stepped aside amid widespread concerns about the viability of his candidacy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an event May 1, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. She’s already broken barriers, and now Harris could soon become the first Black woman to head a major party's presidential ticket after President Joe Biden’s ended his reelection bid. The 59-year-old Harris was endorsed by Biden on Sunday, July 21, after he stepped aside amid widespread concerns about the viability of his candidacy. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an event in Manassas, Va., Jan. 23, 2024. She’s already broken barriers, and now Harris could soon become the first Black woman to head a major party's presidential ticket after President Joe Biden’s ended his reelection bid. The 59-year-old Harris was endorsed by Biden on Sunday, July 21, after he stepped aside amid widespread concerns about the viability of his candidacy. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in the East Room of the White House, March 18, 2024, in Washington. She’s already broken barriers, and now Harris could soon become the first Black woman to head a major party's presidential ticket after President Joe Biden’s ended his reelection bid. The 59-year-old Harris was endorsed by Biden on Sunday, July 21, after he stepped aside amid widespread concerns about the viability of his candidacy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

The presidential campaign is moving forward after another apparent attempt on Donald Trump 's life. Trump was safe after the incident in Florida and praised the Secret Service for protecting him but didn't shy away from blaming his opponents. The Republican nominee claimed without evidence that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ' comment that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the attempt on Sunday.

The man suspected in the incident, Ryan Wesley Routh, camped outside the golf course in West Palm Beach with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours, according to court documents filed Monday. Additional and more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues and prosecutors seek an indictment from a grand jury.

Trump is expected to travel to Michigan while Harris will speak at a Black journalists forum in Pennsylvania.

Here is the Latest:

Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that the death of a young Georgia mother who died after waiting 20 hours for a hospital to treat her complications from an abortion pill shows the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions.

Amber Thurman’s death, first reported Monday by ProPublica, occurred just two weeks after Georgia’s strict abortion ban was enacted in 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn nationwide abortion rights. Trump appointed three of the justices who made that decision and has repeatedly said he believes states should decide abortion laws.

“This young mother should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school,” Harris said in a statement. “Women are bleeding out in parking lots, turned away from emergency rooms, losing their ability to ever have children again. Survivors of rape and incest are being told they cannot make decisions about what happens next to their bodies. And now women are dying. These are the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions.”

▶ Read more here.

Voto Latino registered more people in the days immediately after President Joe Biden announced he would not be the Democratic presidential candidate than the organization registered for the entire month of July in previous presidential elections.

Chief Program and Research Officer Ameer Patel said the organization registered more than 50,000 people from July 21 until the end of the month. By comparison, the nonprofit advocacy group registered 2,252 people in July 2016 and 25,156 in July 2020.

Two of the states with the most activity were Texas and Florida, Patel said.

Issues the organization is watching include voter purges, said founder Maria Teresa Kumar, who added that dropping people from voting rolls in smaller communities could have large impacts. “This was not on our radar,” she said.

More than 6 in 10 Latino voters supported Biden in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, and 35% supported former President Donald Trump.

However, a July poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only about 4 in 10 Latinos said they were somewhat or very optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party, and about one-quarter said the same about the Republican Party.

Vice President Kamala Harris says she was “briefed immediately after” Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and that she is grateful “he’s OK.”

In an interview recorded on Monday with a Spanish-language radio host Chiquibaby, Harris echoed her past sentiments about the attack, condemning “violence of any kind.”

“We have to have civil dialogue, and be able to talk through our differences,” Harris said. “And violence has no place.”

The interview was airing Tuesday on a show that is syndicated on 100-plus Spanish-language radio stations.

The vice president also talked about her mother, the late Shyamala Gopalan, who was born in India, being an immigrant to the U.S. She blamed Trump for helping to derail a bipartisan border security plan in Congress and detailed her previously announced plans to use tax incentives to encourage first-time home purchases and combat grocery “price gouging” to help tame inflation.

Hours after an apparent attempt on Donald Trump’s life over the weekend, Elon Musk took to his social platform X to post a thinking emoji and a comment that “no one is even trying to assassinate” the Democratic president and vice president.

Amid anti-Muslim riots in the U.K., which were ginned up by a false rumor, Musk declared that “civil war is inevitable” in the country.

And when an anonymous X user distorted data to claim a surge in sketchy voter registrations in three U.S. states, Musk amplified the false post and called it “extremely concerning.”

All three posts sparked quick backlash from public officials who called Musk’s words irresponsible and misleading. As his words amass millions of views and thousands of shares, they also illustrate the ability of one of the world’s most influential people to spread fear, hate and misinformation during fraught political moments around the world.

▶ Read more here.

The election director in Cobb County, an Atlanta suburb where votes will be fiercely contested in this year’s presidential race, recently organized a five-hour training session. The focus wasn’t solely on the nuts and bolts of running this year’s election. Instead, it brought together election staff and law enforcement to strategize on how to keep workers safe and the process of voting and ballot-counting secure.

Having a local sheriff’s deputy at early voting locations and panic buttons that connect poll managers to a local 911 dispatcher are among the added security steps the office is taking this year.

Tate Fall, Cobb County’s election director, said she was motivated to act after hearing one of her poll workers describe being confronted during the state’s presidential primary in March by an agitated voter who the worker noticed was carrying a gun. The situation ended peacefully, but the poll worker was shaken.

▶ Read more about what officials are doing across the country

Florida law enforcement will launch a state-level criminal probe of the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.

DeSantis told reporters that the “suspect is believed to (backslash)have committed state law violations.” DeSantis’ announcement comes a day after Ryan Routh was charged with federal firearms crimes.

Routh did not fire any shots, never had Trump in his line of sight and sped away after an agent who spotted him shot in his direction, officials said. He was arrested in a neighboring county.

Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are kicking off a week of action to encourage young voters in battleground states to sign up to vote in the Nov. 5 election.

Walz has events on Tuesday in Macon, Georgia, and Atlanta, followed by a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, while his wife, Gwen, appears in Las Vegas.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and actor Jane Fonda are among a group of high-profile Harris supporters who are set to participate in the registration drive.

More than 130 voter registration events will be held on college campuses — at basketball tournaments, football games and more — in the handful of states where Harris and Walz and the Republican presidential ticket of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are focusing their campaigns, the Harris-Walz campaign said.

The campaign will also have a presence at historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions, including setting up kiosks to assist students with registration.

As he participated in an event on his X social media platform, Trump gave a shoutout to Elon Musk, saying the tech billionaire “endorsed me for president so strongly.”

Trump also called Musk his “friend,” commending his efforts on space travel in particular.

Musk deleted a post on X in which he said “no one is even trying to assassinate” Biden and Harris in the wake of the apparent assassination attempt on Trump.

Early Monday, after taking down the post about the apparent Trump assassination, Musk wrote on the platform: “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.”

Musk, who has nearly 200 million followers on the social media site he bought for $44 billion in 2022, has increasingly embraced conservative ideologies in recent years and endorsed Trump for president.

Trump says the apparent attempt on his life was a “much better result” than when he was shot in July because no others were wounded or killed.

“That was some crazy day, and yesterday you had another one with a different result, actually much better result,” Trump said.

The host noted that some of Trump’s sons were in the room for the interview.

He and his friends playing golf “heard shots, being fired in the air, and I guess probably four or five.”

Trump said they got into carts “and we moved along pretty good.”

“I would have loved to have sank that last putt,” Trump said, of not being able to finish the round of golf.

Trump said an agent had seen a gun barrel “and started shooting in the bushes ... and ran toward the target.”

Trump also noted that a civilian woman in the area drove her vehicle to the back of Routh’s vehicle and took pictures of the license plate, which she then gave to authorities, who were able to track the suspect down.

Trump is participating in his first speaking appearance since the apparent assassination attempt on Sunday.

The former president is taking part in an X Space about the launch of World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform controlled by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric.

From his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Trump commended the Secret Service for doing an “excellent job.”

Farokh, the event’s host, began by applauding Trump for not canceling his appearance.

Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Law enforcement officials work at the scene at the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass speaks during a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis walks from the podium after a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives for a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Jestin Nevarez, of Lake Worth, Fla., adjusts flags flying from his car as he shows support for Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump outside of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, a day after an apparent assassination attempt, in Palm Beach, Fla., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

In this image taken from police body camera video and released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers prepare to arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

In this imaged released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

In this imaged released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

A Coast Guard boat patrols the Lake Worth Lagoon in front of the Mar-a-Lago estate of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, one day after an apparent assassination attempt, in Palm Beach, Fla., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

President Joe Biden, left, holds up the arm of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, while on stage at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at the Las Vegas Police Protective Association during a campaign stop, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris resume campaigning after apparent assassination attempt

Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris resume campaigning after apparent assassination attempt

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at Harry Reid International Airport to board a plane after a campaign trip, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)