Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office had been strategizing around his Kamala Harris endorsement for weeks.
Shortly after the president’s debate, Johnson met with his closest advisers and made clear that if Joe Biden did drop out, the mayor wanted to “loudly and quickly” support Harris, one source told NOTUS.
In effect, it was the start of Johnson’s venture onto the national stage, which will be punctuated by Chicago hosting the Democratic National Convention in mid-August. Amid some of the most topsy-turvy three weeks in American political history, Johnson is tasked with ushering in normalcy and calm in Democratic politics at a time that is anything but.