Harris snags enough delegate support to clinch US nomination

The formal nomination process for a US presidential candidate occurs when delegates from across the United States gather to officially anoint a nominee chosen by voters during the primaries.

But when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, the fate of those delegates, who had been slated to vote for him, came into question.

With the support of a slew of Democratic heavyweights, including Biden himself, and massive voter donations, Harris quickly closed in as the Democratic party's heir apparent, and delegates began falling in line to pledge their support.

"Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party's nominee," Harris wrote in a statement, after US media reported she had sailed past the number of delegates needed --  1,976 out of nearly 4,000 -- in order to decisively secure the Democratic presidential nomination during voting in the coming weeks.

The news came after Harris, in her first speech to campaign workers since Biden's announcement, lashed out at Republican nominee Trump on Monday at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.

Telling the crowd of workers she had come to address them personally after the "rollercoaster" of the last few days, she reminded them that in her past role as California's chief prosecutor, she "took on perpetrators of all kinds."

"Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type," she said to applause.

"We are going to win in November," a smiling Harris told the workers.

She also pledged to focus on the politically explosive issue of abortion, after Trump praised the Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn the long-held federal right to the procedure.

Biden, 81, meanwhile made his first public remarks in nearly a week as he recovered from a bout of Covid.

He called in to the campaign meeting to say that dropping out -- after mounting party and voter concerns over his health and mental acuity -- had been the "right thing to do" and he praised Harris as "the best".

On Tuesday Harris takes her fight against Trump to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she will hold a rally hoping to bolster her following in the critical swing state.