The road to the nomination and presidency runs through Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia already promises to play a big role in the general election on the Electoral College Board. But, it could a big decider in how the Democrats proceed with the presidential nomination.

Both senators of the commonwealth, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee. We are seeing other Democrats across the state coalesce behind her.

But the decision of who will be the Democrat's nominee still lies with the Democratic National Committee delegates. There are thousands of them, including more than 100 from Virginia.

Two days ago, Virginia had its promised Democratic delegates locked in for President Biden. We have seen the endorsements roll in for Vice President Harris, but Monday delegation was still discussing how to proceed.

We talked to State Sen. Scott Surovell, who is also a DNC delegate. He pointed out V.P. Harris needs 1976 delegates to sew up the nomination. He and many of the Virginia Democrats in the delegation have endorsed her and will cast their votes for her.

He expects to see more locked down delegates in the coming days.

“You are going to start to see big chunks of the Virginia delegation to the national convention announcing their support of her,” Surovell said. “In the end she is likely to be nominated. I know we are conference call tonight to discuss it. Myself and our other co-chairs (from the 2020 Harris Presidential Campaign) are leading an effort to consolidate support for her within the Virginia delegation.”

By Monday evening, 89 of the nearly 120 delegates pledged their support to Harris.

But its not just the presidential nomination in uncharted territory, the running mate pick tags along with it. Virginia has at least one person with experience in vetting and being selected – former Hillary Clinton running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine. 

Kaine explained the delegates also have to choose the running mate. Normally it could wait. Former President Donald Trump picked Ohio Sen. JD Vance the week of the Republican National Convention.

But, Kaine points out Democrats don’t have the luxury of time. The vetting process will have to be shortened and possibly done before the DNC.

“Normally it takes two months; I’ve been through the process twice,” Kaine said. “We don’t have two months. It has to be done faster. Maybe that there is a move to do something quicker so you can get somebody on the campaign trail before the Democratic Convention.”

Monday, the DNC met to discuss the rules going forward for the convention, meaning how they will select their nominee.