Kamala Harris isn’t a U.S. presidential candidate yet, but she will be after the Democratic National Convention this week.
The Democratic Party is hosting its National Convention in Chicago, where it will formally nominate Kamala Harris as its official candidate to run for President.
Tim Walz will also be confirmed as her running mate.
Here’s the latest.
Primary race
In the lead-up to a presidential election, U.S. political parties select their candidate through a process known as “primaries”. These are held in local government areas across each state and territory.
Based on the number of primaries a candidate wins, they get a proportional number of “delegates” — people who are tasked with representing their local government area at their party’s convention.
There are 424 delegates up for grabs in California, the most populous state, while Rhode Island has 26 delegates.
Delegates
U.S. President Joe Biden won 99% of primary races for the Democratic Party, securing 3,904 delegates out of 3,949.
At the DNC, these delegates were set to formally confirm their area’s vote for Biden.
However, Biden dropped out of the election last month, after the party’s primary elections had already concluded.
Biden endorsed his Vice President, Harris.
Before the Democratic Naitonal Convention, a majority of delegates attending the convention have already promised to switch their vote from Biden to Kamala Harris.
The delegates will also formally back her running mate for Vice President, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Democratic National Convention
More than 50,000 people are expected to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week.
Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama are scheduled to address the crowd.
The convention will conclude with a speech by Harris on Thursday evening (local time).
Polling
In July, Harris and Trump were polling closely. Opinion polls now show Harris slightly ahead of Trump.
Polling data collated by election analysis blog FiveThirtyEight shows Harris is ahead in swing states — key battlegrounds that have gone back and forth between Republicans and Democrats from election to election.
Biden had been trailing Trump in the polls across every swing state before he dropped out of the race.
