Mayor Justin Bibb may be a small voice in the national Democratic Party, but he is adding his notes to the chorus of Democrats backing Vice President Kamala Harris as President Joe Biden’s successor on the November ballot.
The Cleveland mayor is following the lead of Biden himself, who endorsed Harris immediately after he announced Sunday afternoon that he would withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, whose district includes Cleveland, also threw her support behind Harris on Sunday.
Bibb has remained loyal to the Biden administration. The mayor did not join many Democrats – among them Ohio’s politically vulnerable U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown – in calling for Biden to drop out of the race after his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump.
Bibb has used national TV appearances to praise the president, and he will serve on the platform committee at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer. He has visited Washington, D.C., more than a dozen times during his term, often meeting with Biden administration officials while in town.
“Now is the time to unite as a party and country around Kamala Harris and beat Trump,” Bibb said in a statement circulated by his campaign. “The stakes are just as high as they were yesterday. I’m ready to fight for the next 107 days to ensure we have four more years of unity, opportunity and progress.”
In a Sunday night fundraising email, Bibb moved to put some money behind his endorsement. He asked supporters to split their donations between his own 2025 reelection bid and Harris’ presidential campaign.
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