Indiana DNC delegates line up behind Harris
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s 88 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention on Monday night endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency.
The vote came during a videoconference.
A news release issued Monday night from the Indiana Democratic Party also said that, in a separate vote and meeting, Indiana’s Democratic State Central Committee unanimously passed resolutions honoring President Joe Biden and endorsing Harris to replace him on the ballot.
Because Biden was the sole candidate in Indiana’s presidential primary in May, all Indiana delegates were originally pledged to him. Biden’s announcement Sunday afternoon he is withdrawing from the election means those candidates are now not pledged to anybody.
Prior to the videoconference, delegates Rick Sutton, Derek Camp and Nick Roberts told News 8 that they plan to support Harris. Sutton said he felt bad for Biden but he believes Harris will make an excellent candidate.
“(Biden) controls those delegates. He’s asked us to support his vice president, so most of us will,” he said.
Indiana Democratic Party Chair Mike Schmuhl, himself an automatic delegate to the DNC by virtue of his position within the party, said those comments track with a conference call he held with delegates on Sunday evening. He said most, if not all, of the delegates on the call said the plan to support Harris. Schmuhl and the other 49 state Democratic party chairs endorsed Harris on Sunday.
Schmuhl said he doesn’t believe the change in candidates disenfranchises Democratic primary voters. He said polls, donor actions and the statements of elected officials after the June 27 CNN debate showed Democrats’ candidate preferences had shifted. Camp, who is the chair of the Allen County Democratic Party, said anyone who voted for Biden in May technically also voted for Harris.
“This wasn’t just a vote for Joe Biden for the presidential. It was a ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” he said. “The vice president is there to step in when something is to happen. President Joe Biden feels that it is in the best interests of the country that he not run again. That is his decision but he has definitely had a strong vice presidential candidate and we all supported that previously.”
Sutton and Camp did not name a particular preference for a running mate but said Harris would have several good options. Schmuhl said he personally would like to see Harris select Secretary of Transportation and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. He said Buttigieg has already been vetted on a national level due to his cabinet service and, at age 42, would bring what Schmuhl called a “vibrancy” to the campaign.
News 8’s Gregg Montgomery contributed to this report after it aired.