State Representative Christopher Worrell was the only delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Massachusetts who had not pledged his support to President Joe Biden.
“I wanted to make sure the Black and brown voices are heard,” the representative from Dorchester explained in an interview with the Banner.
By the day after Biden withdrew his candidacy and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on July 21, Worrell had heard enough to reassure him.
“I love Kamala, Vice President Harris, now being an option,” Worrell said. “I’ve gone from uncommitted to committed, for Harris.”
Across the country, Democratic convention delegates were lining up behind Harris, as she quickly secured pledges from a majority of them, enough to put her in line to become the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent and second African American to top a major party’s presidential ticket. Her parents were immigrants — her mother from India and her father from Jamaica.
A flush of cash poured into the newly renamed Harris for President campaign committee, about $80 million in a day, a sign of the excitement over the transition from the aging Biden, 81, to the younger Harris, who is 59. Black donors joined in the fundraising, with $1.5 million pulled in during a national Zoom meeting with 44,000 women the evening of Biden’s announcement.
On social media, there were calls for the Divine Nine Black sororities and fraternities to get behind Harris and her candidacy although as nonprofits they are prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity. That ban does not prevent individual members or groups of them acting under a separate umbrella from supporting her campaign. Harris, a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
The Democratic National Committee plans a virtual roll call of delegates in early August, to ratify a nominee in time to get on the ballot in Ohio, which has an early deadline. The convention, where about 4,000 delegates will gather in person, is scheduled for Aug. 19 to Aug. 22 in Chicago.
Massachusetts delegates, who joined an evening Zoom meeting on July 22, overwhelmingly leapt on the Harris bandwagon. The state has 116 delegates and 8 alternates. They are chosen from congressional districts, at-large by the Democratic State Committee or because they are elected officials or party leaders.
Only one of the state’s 92 pledged delegates had not previously committed to Biden, according to party chairman Steve Kerrigan, and Worrell said he was the one.
Of the state’s delegates, about a dozen are Black and around seven are Hispanic. Worrell represents the congressional district of Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who swiftly endorsed Harris.
“Vice President Harris is a proven strong, empathetic and moral leader. She has been a clear leading voice on abortion rights, healthcare justice and student debt cancellation,” Pressley said in a statement. “We worked together when she was in the Senate on legislation to address the maternal health crisis, support small Black businesses, advance housing justice and protect voting rights.”
The only Black woman ever elected to Congress from Massachusetts added: “Vice President Harris pursuing the highest office in America is a powerful realization of a dream that so many have struggled for so long to make possible.
State Attorney General Andrea Campbell, an at-large delegate, also endorsed Harris, who was the speaker at Campbell’s graduation from UCLA Law School.
“She has the ability to bring us together, to unite us, to take on the hate that we are seeing in this country and the political divisiveness and to make it about the work. And she has been doing the work,” Campbell said in an interview with WCVB-TV. “I’m excited to get out there and campaign for her.”
Darnell Williams, former president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, is an at-large delegate who in 2019 campaigned around the country for the Biden-Harris ticket. He too backed Harris.
“I think she will bring the gravitas and debate skill to deal with the falsehoods coming from the other party,” Williams said in an interview.
Because of her experience as vice president, senator and attorney general of California, “she brings the package to be ready to be the next commander in chief,” the Air Force veteran said. “I have no reservations.”
Besides Worrell, Williams and Campbell, other Black delegates from Massachusetts include: Boston At-large City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune; Phyliss St-Hubert, director of scheduling and advance for Mayor Michelle Wu, herself an at-large delegate; Segun Idowu, Boston’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion; Anthony Davis Jr., a community organizing consultant in Boston; Sharon Stout of Newton; Brian Corr of Cambridge; Tina Poindexter of Watertown; Eryn-Ashlei Bailey, a Boston entrepreneur; and Leon Brathwaite, a state party insider from Martha’s Vineyard.
Hispanic delegates include Boston City Councilor Enrique Pepén of Roslindale; state Senator Adam Gomez of Springfield; state Senator Pavel Payano of Lawrence; Revere At-Large City Councilor Juan Jaramillo; former state representative Juana Matias of Lawrence; Diego Sanchez of Boston; and Ricardo Patrón, Wu’s press secretary.
Less than five hours after Biden’s announcement, Pepén posted on X, “I’m with Kamala.”
Both Worrell and Williams declined to offer Harris advice on who to select as her running mate.
“I’ll stay in my lane,” Williams said. “The vice president needs to see what she needs to balance off her ticket.”
Worrell said he trusts Harris to decide on the right person to be the party’s nominee for vice president.
Harris participated in a recent fundraiser in Provincetown and was scheduled to attend another July 27 in the Berkshires. Last summer, she made an unannounced appearance at a Congressional Black Caucus forum at Roxbury Community College during the national NAACP convention in the Seaport.
