Vice President Kamala Harris won the Democratic presidential nomination this week after thousands of party delegates completed an unusual online vote that will lock her in on the top of their ticket weeks before the party’s national convention begins.

“I am so proud to confirm that Vice President Harris has earned more than a majority of votes from all convention delegates and will be the nominee of the Democratic Party following the close of voting on Monday,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said Friday.

Ms. Harris, 59, is the only candidate on the ballot, known as a pledge form, and she became the nominee without winning a single primary and after a brief run for the nomination that will have lasted only 15 days by the time delegate voting ends.

She replaces Mr. Biden, 81, who dropped out of the race on July 21 due to concerns about his age, mental fitness, and declining poll numbers.

With voting completed, Ms. Harris has become the first Black female presidential nominee for a major political party.  

Ms. Harris’s nomination set aside 14 million votes cast for Mr. Biden in the state-by-state Democratic presidential primary this year, in which he secured 3,905 delegates.

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Rep. Dean Phillips, of Minnesota, won four delegates during the primary and Jason Palmer won 3 delegates in American Samoa’s caucuses. Another 37 delegates were uncommitted.

Thanks to Mr. Biden’s late decision to leave the race, the choice of Ms. Harris was left up to Democratic party officials, not voters.

Ms. Harris, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2019, quickly coalesced Democrats behind her nomination and has so far performed well in the polls and fundraising.

She polls better than Mr. Biden in battleground states and in some polls has eliminated Mr. Trump’s lead. A series of national polls show Ms. Harris slightly ahead of Mr. Trump, who had for weeks been in the lead.

Ms. Harris plans a campaign swing through battleground states the week of August 5 with her running mate, who she’s expected to announce before August 7.

Delegates began voting on her nomination on August 1.

The online secured the nomination for Ms. Harris weeks before the August 19-22 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Democrats set up the pre-convention, virtual vote earlier this year, when it appeared they would miss Ohio’s deadline to appear on the presidential ballot. The Ohio date, August 7, was later extended to Sept. 1, well past the Democratic convention.

Democrats decided to stick to the online vote nonetheless, arguing the GOP-led state might try to legally challenge the later filing date and threaten their nominee’s place on the November presidential ballot.

The party stuck to the plan after Mr. Biden suddenly dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed Ms. Harris.

Ms. Harris needed 1,976 delegate votes to win and announced more than a week ago that she secured far more than the required number.

Delegates also include a bloc of former elected leaders and other party officials who would have voted on second and subsequent rounds of balloting if Ms. Harris did not win in the first round.

In a recent DNC meeting, party officials said they would hold a “celebratory roll call,” at the convention for Ms. Harris and her running mate.

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.