US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at an event honoring National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship teams from the 2023-2024 season, held on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on July 22, 2024. On July 21, 2024, Joe Biden dropped out of the US presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s new nominee. This move was described as stunning and upending an already extraordinary 2024 race for the White House. Biden, 81, cited acting in the “best interest of my party and the country” and bowed to weeks of pressure following a disastrous June debate against Donald Trump that stoked worries about his age and mental fitness.

Harris, aged 59, pledged to unite the Democratic Party and the nation to defeat Donald Trump and his ‘Project 2025’ agenda, which led to doubled support at a rally on July 22 where some chanted “Lock him up!” in reference to Trump. In her address to the crowd, Harris highlighted her previous roles as an attorney general of the state of California and a courtroom prosecutor, stressing her experience in taking on perpetrators of various kinds, including abusers, fraudsters, and rule-breakers. She contrasted her stance with trust in women to make decisions about their bodies without government interference.