WASHINGTON (AP) — The day after Vice President Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for the White House, 650 people showed up to volunteer at Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee’s campaign office in Michigan.
The next night in Nevada, Rep. Steven Horsford had another 600 volunteers registered in his Las Vegas-area district. Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean’s constituents were “excited.” New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster felt “palpable” enthusiasm. And by the end of the week, Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s team had 400 volunteers ready to “hop on the bus” to campaign for Democrats in neighboring Michigan and Wisconsin.
“The theory of the matter appears to be true: There is renewed enthusiasm within the Democratic Party for our nominee at the top of the ticket,” said Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, who was among the Democrats calling for President Joe Biden to step aside.
Weeks of despair among Democratic lawmakers that Biden would not only lose the White House but drag congressional candidates down with him evaporated in the blink of an eye. The static inertia of the 2024 campaign transformed into kinetic political energy after Harris seized control of the party, stunned the establishment and shook up the race against Republican Donald Trump.
Women, young people and voters of color suddenly began flocking to Democratic campaigns. Congressional campaign committees for Democrats in the House and Senate reported record online donations of $1 million a day, among the highest in history. Lawmakers said people showed up without prompting, asking what they could do to help.
The turnaround, just over 100 days before the election, revives the party’s hopes of taking back the House and fighting to retain its majority in the Senate. Rather than being seen simply as a last line of defense against Trump and the Project 2025 agenda, the potential for broader Democratic victories is coming into view, despite Republicans’ assertions that the Harris boost is a blip that won’t last.
Harris’s rise ended the painful partisan rebellion that had left Democrats in anxious suspense for weeks.
“We are on the edge of both existential dread and enthusiasm to make history,” said freshman Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.
The House, in particular, is reeling from the chaotic turn of events. The party’s fears about Biden’s ability to lead were made public after his disastrous debate performance called into question his age, 81, and his ability to serve another term.
Lloyd Doggett of Texas, the first Democratic lawmaker to call on Biden to withdraw from the race, said: “I think we were on track to lose this election, and now we have a good chance to win it.”
For some, the energy and enthusiasm they see is reminiscent of 2008, when a young U.S. senator, Barack Obama, defended his bid for the White House with a new coalition of Democrats, led in part by young millennials.
Horsford, who was among Obama’s earliest supporters in Nevada, remembers the throngs of young people working as part of a multiracial, multigenerational coalition. And that’s what he now sees “coming out of nowhere” to help Harris.
“It’s actually more than a campaign now,” Horsford said. “It’s a movement.”
Both the House and Senate are fiercely contested this election year, with narrow majorities in November. That means just one seat can determine which party is in power.
In the House of Representatives, about 40 seats are considered competitive, and each of these seats could decide whether Republicans will retain their slim majority or Democrats will seize power.
The Senate is tougher for Democrats, a candidate-versus-candidate battle that is less dependent on the top of the ticket. Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the Senate, and one of the most threatened incumbents, Montana Sen. Jon Tester, has yet to endorse Harris. A 50-50 Senate would give the party control of the White House, because the vice president could cast tie-breaking votes.
Republicans handling the House and Senate races are trying to reshape the presidential race with Trump, largely by defining Harris on their own terms.
GOP strategists believe the sudden surge of support for Harris will fade, and Republicans are keen to replace “Scranton Joe” with a “liberal from San Francisco” who will hold the Biden administration’s record on border policy and inflation, which are at the top of voters’ agendas.
“This whole short-lived Harris honeymoon is over,” said Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
“Age was the issue for Biden. The issue for Kamala Harris is going to be her far-left policies,” Daines said. “The nation is not going to elect a far-left, radical from San Francisco.”
Jack Pandol, spokesman for the House GOP’s National Republican Congressional Committee, said House Democrats are buying into Harris’ “extreme agenda to remake America in the image of San Francisco” and risk losing their elections as a result.
The dynamics are being tested as lawmakers in competitive seats see the political ground shake beneath their feet in the presidential race.
“We’ve seen a night-and-day difference in every aspect of my campaign,” said Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, who was among about three dozen congressional Democrats who publicly called on Biden to pass the torch.
Fundraising, grassroots support and volunteer energy have all “shot through the roof” since the handover to Harris, he said. “This is really an electric boost for our campaign.”
But in another competitive New York district, Republican Rep. Nick LaLota predicted that when “the dust settles, my constituents will understand that life would be even worse under a Harris administration.”
Of course, not all Democrats in Congress wanted Biden to end his campaign for a second term.
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, a ranking member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she was shocked by calls for Biden to resign after what she said he has done as president.
Some lawmakers in particular feared that Harris would be thrown into the race without sufficient support from his party, or that he would simply be passed over, as Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi and other prominent Democrats had initially called for an open primary if Biden were replaced.
But when Biden decided it was “in the best interests of my party and the country” to end his candidacy, even some of those most opposed to the change welcomed the outcome.
Waters said there was so much interest in Harris from her Los Angeles district that she rushed home Friday to host an organizing event. “We’re going to jam,” she said.
“He supported a woman — a woman of color — and that attracted everyone to a new kind of possibility that could happen in this country,” she said.
