Democratic megadonors want to slow Harris nomination, but no challengers

Some of the Democratic Party‘s top donors have been urging the party to hit the brakes on Vice President Kamala Harris‘ surge toward the nomination, arguing for a more “open” and inclusive process that would let delegates evaluate several potential nominees. The problem is, there aren’t any serious contenders.

As of late Monday, there did not appear to be any potentially serious challengers for the Democratic nomination who had not already endorsed Harris.

Billionaire and longtime donor Mike Bloomberg said, “The decision is too important to rush, because the election is too important to lose” in a statement Monday. He notably did not endorse Harris. Bloomberg has a net worth of more than $100 billion, according to Forbes.

“Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner,” said Netflix executive chairman and longtime Democratic donor Reed Hastings in a social media post Sunday, shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

But this idea, that there should be a challenger to Harris to give Democrats options, while popular with some Democratic donors, has found no takers so far among the crop of rising Democratic elected officials who would be expected to actually do the challenging.

On the contrary, Democratic governors and senators and House members have been lining up to endorse Harris, instead of waiting to see whether any potential alternatives emerge.

The refusal by Democrats to entertain these calls from donors who want to slow down the nomination process is a sharp contrast to how many donors successfully lobbied lawmakers to call on Biden to drop out of the race.

Despite a few big donors pushing for a pause on the process, the Democratic Party on Monday was full steam ahead with its new front-runner.

So far, no Democrats have stated their intent to launch a counter campaign to Harris, as she rakes in her party’s endorsements and skyrocketing donations.

In the hours after Biden stepped out of the race and backed Harris, most of the potential challengers to her campaign, rather than throw their hats in the ring, endorsed the vice president.

That includes California Gov. Gavin Newsom, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — all of whom are now contenders in the veepstakes to become Harris’ running mate.

Harris on Monday also secured the endorsement of top Capitol Hill Democrats including one of Biden’s closest allies, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Pelosi’s backing is a key signal that Democrats are coalescing around the vice president with just over a week until Aug. 1, when the Democratic National Committee said it could start its virtual roll call process to designate the party nominee.