Jacksonville leaders react to VP Kamala Harris running for president

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Local leaders are speaking out about Democrats rallying behind Vice President Kamla Harris. Officials from both parties told Action News Jax Annette Gutierrez they saw President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out coming.

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Today, the nation heard from Biden for the first time since he dropped out of the race. Biden called into what is now the Harris Campaign headquarters, to say he is going to keep campaigning, even if he’s not on the ticket. Both he and Harris say they’re ready for the challenge.

The Harris news has Democrats very excited. In just 24 hours, she broke a record of raising more than $80 million for her campaign.

But here in Jacksonville, reaction is mixed on party lines.

State Representative Angie Nixon said she is excited to rally behind Harris.

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“It’s very historic and pretty cool to see that we’re potentially going to have a Black woman, who is also has some Indian heritage as well, is going to be the nominee for the Democratic Party,” Nixon said.

Meanwhile Duval GOP Chair Dean Black says former President Donald Trump will win no matter what.

“It won’t matter. In the end, what they’ve done is replaced a non-candidate with a really bad candidate,” Dean said.

The attacks on Harris have already begun. Governor Ron DeSantis called her “vacuous and unaccomplished.” Florida Dems Chair Nikki Fried called her the most qualified and accomplished candidate either party could put up.

“As a matter of fact, the Trump campaign came out with the first TV ads within 90 minutes of the announcement,” Black said.

“We have to begin to heal our nation. And I believe that Vice President Harris is going to allow us to do that,” Nixon said.

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