'Extraordinary leadership': Democrat Pete Buttigieg backs Kamala ...

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President Joe Biden endorses Kamala Harris in heated presidential race

President Joe Biden has endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, to become the Democratic nominee for president.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday evening amid talk of whether any Democrats will challenge Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination and who she might select as her running mate.

"Kamala Harris is now the right person to take up the torch, defeat Donald Trump, and succeed Joe Biden as President," Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said in a statement. "I have seen her extraordinary leadership firsthand, working closely with her during the 2020 campaign" and in the Biden administration.

Buttigieg and Harris both ran for president in 2020 in the multicandidate Democratic primary that Biden eventually won. Buttigieg is one of a dozen or more Democrats who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for Harris, but his statement didn't directly address that speculation.

"I will do all that I can to help her win this election to lead America forward as our next President," it said.

Buttigieg also praised Biden as "among the best and most consequential presidents in our history."