There’s this small moment, right at the end of last night’s Democratic National Convention, which tells me so much about Kamala Harris. A little kid comes over to say hi to her and her husband, Doug.

Her husband gives the kid a solid, perfectly acceptable handshake, treating them as an adult.

Kamala stoops down to the kid’s level and makes direct eye contact, treating them as an equal. She even has a few words for the kid, then gives a little pinch of the chin.

It’s a subtle moment. Beautiful, empathetic, and, I’m guessing, instinctive. She clearly loves being around kids. Maybe this is why Gen-Z loves her.

Dan Pfeiffer, writing in The Message Box:

The political logic of the Walz pick is less obvious than with Shapiro and Kelly, the other two finalists. This is especially true with Shapiro, a very popular governor from the critical state of Pennsylvania. Harris likely has no path to the White House without Pennsylvania.

And:

In picking Walz, Kamala Harris looked at something broader than winning one state. She sought a running mate to help her in all seven battleground states. Winning Pennsylvania alone is not enough to get to the White House. Presidential politics is more chess than checkers, and choosing Walz is evidence that Kamala Harris is looking at the whole board.

Lest we forget, the queen is the most powerful piece in chess.

Kamala Harris, via her Instagram account:

I am proud to announce that I’ve asked @timwalz to be my running mate.

A great pick.

It wasn’t the expected choice, although it seemed more likely after calling MAGA folks “weird”, a word that’s stuck, is driving the other side bonkers, and shows he can be an “attack dog” without being “nasty”. I’m sure it raised his profile tremendously.

He seems as midwest as midwest can be, with a definite “everyone’s favorite uncle” vibe, which balances Harris’s “cool Cali auntie” chic. It helps, too, that he’s won in areas that have strong a Republican electorate who might have stayed home this cycle.

Walz also compares remarkably well against J.D. Vance. In some ways, it’s feels like “Actually Midwest” vs. “Hollywood’s image of Midwest.”

I can’t wait for the vice presidential debate.

(Worth noting: The pick was announced on Instagram first, a full ten minutes before it was released on X/Twitter. This is good. Politicians (and others) need to deemphasize Musk’s awful site when breaking news.)

DC-based distiller Republic Restoratives: 

To commemorate the inauguration of America’s first female, black, AND South Asian Vice President, we’ve collaborated with talented local artist, and AKA soror, Lex Marie (@thelexmarie) to create a whiskey fit for toasting history: Madam.

Jessica Sidman, writing for Washingtonian:

Madam was initially created for the 2021 inauguration when Harris became the first female Vice President. They chose the name Madam—not thinking it could also be an apt name for a potential presidential whiskey as well.

Since Joe Biden ended his campaign and Harris announced hers, sales have been brisk: 

Within 24 hours, the distillery sold out of the 300 bottles it had in stock for direct-to-consumer sales. They’ve been scrambling to bottle up more whiskey with an additional 200 ordered in the days since. 

There are many ways we can demonstrate enthusiasm for a political candidate. I didn’t have boffo sales of themed whiskey on my scorecard.

One of the owners and distillers of Republic Restoratives is Pia Carusone, who was chief of staff to former Rep. Gabby Giffords. Carusone spoke on local DC news station WUSA9 about the whiskey, the sales, and, of course, the politics of it all.

I think it’s telling this whiskey is exploding in popularity now. People appreciated the historic election of the first female Vice President (who also happened to be Black and South Asian), but they seem downright jubilant about the possibility of electing her President.

I presume many of these bottles were purchased as collectibles, never to be opened. As a whiskey lover, I’m hoping the juice—a 92º bourbon-rye blend (58% rye, 37% corn, 5% malted barley)—is good too. And yes, I did order a couple of bottles: One to hold onto, and one to toast with on January 20, 2025.

(Via @bloodravenlib.)

I originally planned to post this over the weekend, as an example of the vice president’s ability to energize and engage a crowd. The audience loved her. They riffed together. Her energy, passion, and, yes, charisma shone through.

My headline was going to be More of Vice President Harris Speaking, Please.

That will no longer be an issue.

Vice President Kamala Harris:

On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country.

I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.

And in a follow-up:

I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda. If you’re with me, add a donation right now.

Harris has already garnered significant support for her candidacy from several prominent Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Rep. Jim Clyburn, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Adam Schiff, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sec. Pete Buttigieg, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, making it likely, perhaps even inevitable, that she becomes the nominee.  Update: The Washington Post has a running list of Harris endorsements from among the “263 congressional Democrats and 23 Democratic governors.”

In addition, the Biden for President organization is now officially Harris for President, following a name change filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Democrats with serious aspirations of becoming president are unlikely to challenge her, out of self-preservation if nothing else. Only a fringe candidate and former Democrat have so far suggested they would; those will not be serious challenges.

The next several weeks leading up to the Democratic National Convention are going to be absolutely wild.

(One interesting logistical observation: When I checked around 3 p.m. (Pacific) today, ‌kamalaharris.com was not operational. About an hour later—perhaps in conjunction with the FEC filing?—it started redirecting to joebiden.com. I’m guessing a lot of IT and web folks are scrambling to stand up a full campaign site in record time. They’re already updating ‌unitedforharris.com with today’s news.

Update: kamalaharris.com now redirects to an Act Blue donation page.)

President Joe Biden, writing to the American people:

It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.

It’s an unprecedented move by a sitting president running for reelection.

And in a follow-up:

My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. 

I’ve been vocally against the push for President Biden to step down as the Democratic nominee. I’ve been equally vocal that if he did step aside, only one person should be seriously considered for the top of the ticket: Kamala Harris.

President Biden’s performance during The Debate (as it will now always be known) was painful, not because of what he said, but because of how he said it. As I wrote on Mastodon that night:

It frustrates me that this election will likely come down to bluster-filled lies vs. good policies delivered weakly.

From that moment, the entire Democratic establishment, the commentariat, and the media (especially the execrable New York Times) pushed the narrative that Biden was unfit to run. This exit became almost inevitable. In many ways, the pressure campaign felt like a slow-moving coup.

Despite the way this came about, it’s now imperative that the Democratic Party coalesce behind Vice President Harris. Early reports suggest this is happening, and I expect we’ll see many more over the next few hours and days.

Given the circumstances, VP Harris is not only the obvious choice to be the new nominee, I think she’s the best choice. Prosecutor vs. felon. Youth vs. age. Progressive vs. fascist. Many of the attacks Trump/Vance lodged against President Biden are blunted against VP Harris. It would be farcical, verging on negligent, to suggest VP Harris is somehow the “wrong” person to lead the ticket.

The wildcard, as always, is the American electorate. This country’s unexamined racism and misogyny will make this more challenging than it should be, but I’m sure of one thing: If a majority of today’s America is unwilling to vote for an intelligent, progressive, qualified candidate because she has brown skin and boobs, they alone own the autocracy that comes with the alternative. 

I said last week:

Some moments in our life we recognize immediately as capital-H Historic.

This election is now inescapably Historic.