Why is Barack Obama yet to endorse Kamala Harris?

Former president is wary of a coronation for Joe Biden’s Vice President but is said to privately support her campaign and is expected to announce his backing ‘soon’

Barack Obama with Kamala Harris at the White House in 2022. Harris was one of the earliest backers for his own presidential campaign in 2008. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Barack Obama is expected to endorse Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee “soon” after days of speculation about his lack of public support.

Obama, 62, is one of the few leading Democrats not to have backed the Vice President since President Biden announced on Sunday that he would step aside as nominee. Obama has called instead for an open convention to have “a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges”.

In private, however, he is understood to be in close contact with Harris, 59, and serving as “a sounding board” for her. He has “been in regular contact with her and thinks she’s been off to a great start”, NBC reported, adding that the pair had discussed appearing on the campaign trail together.

Obama is said to have withheld giving Harris his blessing to avoid overshadowing Biden’s valedictory Oval Office address on Wednesday night. Michelle Obama, 60, who like her husband remains an influential figure in the Democratic Party, will also support Harris’s campaign.

Harris has won the support of a majority of Democratic delegates, but still needs to officially clinch the nomination when party officials hold a roll call early next month. Picture: Roberto Schmidt/AFP

David Axelrod, Obama’s former senior adviser, warned that Donald Trump, confirmed last week as the Republican presidential nominee, remained the clear favourite to win the White House. “I still rate him a … pretty substantial favourite in this race just because of the electoral challenges,” Axelrod, 69, said on his Hacks on Tap podcast on Wednesday.

Axelrod said that he wanted to see Harris earn the nomination and worried that a “coronation” would be a turn-off for voters. The veteran political strategist said her choice of running-mate could be key to her chances of victory, adding that the Arizona senator Mark Kelly and the Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro were the “two most serious candidates”.

With just over 100 days before Americans go to the polls, Obama will try to use his endorsement at a time when “his voice can move the needle”, Eric Schultz, a senior Obama adviser, told NBC News. A spokesman for the Obamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Obama is said to have withheld giving Harris his blessing to avoid overshadowing Biden’s valedictory Oval Office address. Picture: Nicholas Kamm / AFP

Harris has won the support of a majority of Democratic delegates, but still needs to officially clinch the nomination when party officials hold a roll call early next month. On Wednesday, her campaign reported that it had raised $126 million in three days.

Head-to-head polls taken in recent days show Trump maintaining a narrow lead over Harris. An average of polls on the FiveThirtyEight political forecasting site showed Trump with 48 per cent support, compared with Harris’s 46 per cent.

When Biden bowed out on Sunday, Obama gave a statement praising him for his leadership and public service, without mentioning his potential successor. “We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” he said. “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”

Harris was one of the first elected Democrats to endorse Obama during his presidential campaign in 2008.

The Times