with the 2024 presidential election.

President Joe Biden, who's decided to pull out of the race, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic Party's nominee.

He announced this on Sunday, and by Monday night, all 49 of Nevada's national delegates followed suit and pledged their support for Harris.

Joining us now with her insight into Nevada's response to this major shakeup is Gabby Birnbaum, Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Nevada Independent.

Gabby, welcome.

Thank you for taking the time.

I know you have been very, very busy.

Thank you for having me.

So as far as those Democratic delegates in Nevada, was there support of Harris ever in doubt?

I don't think so.

I think from the minute the president, I think it was six minutes after he announced he was dropping out, he endorsed the vice president.

And from there, all I heard was positivity about the vice president.

a lot of the, federal delegation, you know, the senators, members of the House and their initial statements stake the president and then very shortly after threw their weight behind Harris.

they're also all delegates to the convention just from checking in with delegates, leading up to that Monday night vote.

I didn't hear anything but support for Harris, excitement about Harris.

And they made that unanimous decision pretty quickly.

I think the Nevada Democratic Party likes to, you know, be in the national conversation.

and they definitely wanted to make sure that as a battleground state, they, they made their voice heard for the vice president.

And so what happens next?

And then what about a primary?

I mean, why isn't that being discussed?

Yeah, I think part of the reason, right.

We had a primary, right.

President Biden didn't have any serious challengers, especially in Nevada, where there was one member of Congress, Steve Phillips, who did run against him.

He wasn't on the ballot in Nevada.

He didn't get on in time.

and so I think a lot of people feel that if the president is going to make the decision to drop out a vote for Biden in the primary, what she won in Nevada was almost 90% of the vote was, you know, also a vote of confidence, even though her name wasn't there in his vice presidential choice.

In here, as you know, there's been the Biden Harris campaign.

And so I think there was talk of doing some sort of primary at this point.

It would be too late for voters to weigh in.

So it would be delegates to the convention.

that would have to make that decision.

Nevada.

Right, has 49 of them.

in theory.

Right.

We could have had an open convention.

I think Democrats, and I think from talking to a lot of voters as well, felt like, let's move forward.

United and focused on Donald Trump.

and that's that's what happened.

And so the vote in Nevada's delegates had the 49 of them and other state parties have had is just symbolic right now that can't commit to the vice president.

But it means they're saying when we go to the convention in a month, in August, we plan to vote for the vice president.

And at this point, she has enough delegates who have said that to where she would lock up the nomination.

And talking to voters.

You, came up with the term or maybe it wasn't you.

Did you come up with this term?

Harris meant, what does it mean?

I don't know, I don't know if I, I don't know if I saw it somewhere, if I came up with it.

I'm not sure.

I mean, it's it's not the most, you know, it's not the biggest linguistic challenge.

Those two words together.

but.

Yeah, I mean, from from talking to Democrats in, the weeks between President Biden's debate performance, and his decision to drop out, I think there was even among those who publicly supported him and were sticking by him, there was trepidation and for good reason.

Right.

He was losing in the polls to President Trump, a ticket to former President Trump, particularly in Nevada.

He had not led a poll that I saw all cycle, and a lot of those polls were out that the margin of error, you'd see Trump up 4 or 5, six, seven points.

Right.

and I think this has just ignited a new energy among Nevada Democrats.

the campaign, you know, they woke up as a Biden campaign on Sunday, went to bed as the Harris campaign.

They told me that they had 600, they recruited 600 volunteers on Sunday.

Typically they'll do 150. they had people walking in off of the streets saying, you know, how can we help?

What can we do?

People who weren't responding to texts from the campaign saying, okay, now, now I'm ready.

What can I do?

and I think that bore out in the national data, right?

I mean, she raised a record.

I think it was $1 billion.

in the first 24 hours, there, we saw a record number of new voter registrations.

So, I mean, I think for Democrats, this is a watershed moment.

Say they feel they're getting rid of the baggage that President Biden had with age.

Definitely.

But even somewhat, I think, on his liabilities with the economy, in particular, it seems that voters don't penalize Harris quite the same way.

and so it'll be interesting to see if this is sort of a honeymoon, as Trump's pollster called it, a Harris honeymoon.

or if this can be sustained all the way through November.

But certainly I think for the campaign staff on the ground, and for volunteers, they're feeling a lot more energized than they have been.

And what about the voting blocks in Nevada that the now Harris campaign hopes to attract, that perhaps President Biden wasn't?

Yeah, I think President Biden, you saw his biggest weaknesses were with voters of color and with younger voters.

And I think, you know, we don't yet have data, but the campaign is really hopeful that the vice president, who, was talking about how young she is, which she has 59, right.

love that.

You know, the young.

I think that's great.

but compared to, you know, Biden and Trump, who are both seniors, we have someone who's significantly younger, who is a woman of color who's both black and South Asian.

you know, those are, particularly black voters in Nevada are pretty well organized.

and from what I can tell, quite excited about her candidacy.

and then I think you've seen younger voters get really excited.

They've been making means they've been, you know, posting stuff.

And so we'll see how much of this is just an unprecedented event.

And people, you know, weighing in and how much of this is real momentum.

But, the campaign certainly believes she can do better with those voter groups.

All right, Gabby, I hope we're not cringe when we attempt to do this, but actually, I'm going to have you do it and tell me, what does it mean when it is said that Kamala is brat?

Okay, so let's start with brat is an album, by the British pop star, actually Charli XCX that came out earlier this year.

It's I would recommend anyone listen to it.

It's a lot of fun.

Just dance pop.

But, it's kind of funny because a lot of the themes of the album are about, you know, being a party girl.

And, Charli XCX herself is actually in her 30s.

so I think people maybe misunderstand a bit.

Gen Z, definitely.

I'm Gen Z, I love this album.

but I think the idea Gen Z's I think humor sense tends to go towards the ridiculous.

and so people have been making edits of the vice president.

She, you know, has a lot of memorable moments.

over the past four years, especially a lot of quotes that people know.

So taking those moments, of her, you know, saying funny things, putting the brat music over it.

The brat album cover is sort of lime green.

So putting that lime green filter, and I think you've seen the campaign wink and nod to it.

Definitely.

and we'll see how that plays out.

And again, we'll see if this is just Gen Z sort of posting.

Ironically, or if this is true enthusiasm.

But it's definitely, I think, for me and for the young people, it's fun to see.

Yeah.

Well, and everyone in Gen Z is not of voting age.

So it's important to remember also that British pop star, she she can't vote in this election.

But hey, we'll move on.

She cannot.

The Trump campaign.

How did they view Nevada prior to this announcement prior to Biden dropping out?

And how does the campaign view Nevada now?

The Trump campaign was incredibly confident about Nevada.

it was a state where I think in some sense, there have been reports that they'd even taken it off of their battleground map, that they felt like the true battlegrounds were in the Midwest, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, and that Nevada in particular, as well as Arizona and Georgia, were locks.

so former President Trump, I think, you know, they're going to be digging into the data, especially as new polls come out and evaluate that.

The Harris campaign certainly thinks this is going to the Biden campaign.

Never said we can't win Nevada, but you know, they acknowledged in internal memos our path is through the Midwest, through the Rust Belt.

I think the Harris campaign, particularly because she's from California, because maybe connects more to some of the voters in the Sunbelt, in Nevada and Arizona in particular, that they can, again, be competitive in Nevada.

And so I think, you know, it's hard to write off either campaign in July.

There's so, so much time.

But I think the Trump campaign had been really confident.

And we'll see if they maintain that confidence.

Right now, they don't have much presence in Nevada.

And so I think if they feel worried, they'll probably see some campaign offices opening and some staff coming to Nevada.

how has the Nevada GOP responded?

I think their plan is just to attack harass the same way they've attacked Biden.

I think they plan to attack her on inflation.

They plan to attack her on immigration.

for them, you know, a different candidate, but the same message.

and we'll see.

I mean, there has been discussion of potential and, you know, because she was the vice president, she can take over the campaign infrastructure, the campaign finance account, all of that.

but we'll see if there's some element of legal challenges to her candidacy, coming forward.

And that's already, I believe, happening the Trump campaign, asking the FEC to step in in what regard?

So I think they're concerned about, this, you know, campaign was registered to Joe Biden.

And can he just transfer that money over to Kamala Harris?

Now, most of the campaign finance experts I've seen have said yes, because it's the Biden Harris campaign account.

And that would have been, I think, one of the real risks of Democrats having an open primary.

If it had been someone else, they would not likely have been able to take over that campaign account might have had to start from scratch.

so we'll see if the FEC weighs in.

But from my understanding, I believe she's on solid legal ground to take that over.

All right.

And lastly, Gabby, what are you working on?

I know you are busy.

Things are changing all the time.

I am trying to just talk to as many people as I can about the vice president.

she was the attorney general of California at the same time, our senator in Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto, was attorney general.

They served in the Senate together.

and so I'm trying to she has a number of people who worked on her 2020 campaign who are, in Nevada, who were on her staff today sort of trying to understand how she thinks about the state, what her what her, plan is and how she if she's, you know, a fan of Vegas as many people are.

Gabby Birenbaum of the Nevada Independent.

Thank you for joining Nevada Week.

Thank you.