SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio-area leaders are coming out in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, whose presidential campaign is ramping up following President Joe Biden’s surprise announcement on Sunday that he was dropping out of the race.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg praised Harris on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing that "there is no better candidate to defend our freedoms against Trump’s warped vision for America. I will be proud to cast my vote as a national delegate for @Kamala Harris."
Nirenberg joins more than 250 Democratic mayors who’ve endorsed Harris as the nominee for president as of Friday afternoon, according to the Democratic Mayors Association.
Harris has also earned the endorsement of Precinct 4 Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert. This won’t be Calvert’s first time pledging support for Harris.
“This is the most serious election that the country has faced since the Civil War,” Calvert said. “I block-walked for President Biden and Kamala Harris in Georgia, a battleground state, and look what happened in Georgia. We won it.”
In a press release, Calvert stressed opposition to proposed policies laid out in Project 2025, a conservative agenda created by the Heritage Foundation.
“Mr. Trump seeks to ‘jail healthcare providers.’ His plan also would lead to a nationwide abortion without exceptions. (Page 459 of Project 2025 Details Resurrecting an 1800s law called the Comstock Act),” Calvert said in the statement.
“As the son of a single mother, I am disgusted that Trump’s 2025 plan cuts support for single parents and children and punishes people that do not get married,” Calvert said in the press release.
Trump has tried distancing himself recently from the contents of Project 2025, despite expressing support for the Heritage Foundation’s efforts in the past.
Calvert stressed Harris’ leadership experience on the local, state and federal levels is crucial.
“That matters, because when you’re developing policy and you’re leading the country, you need to know how things ripple into every level of government and every community, but you also need to be able to sharp shoot and provide solutions,” Calvert said. “According to the FBI and the Bureau of Justice statistics, violent and property crimes are down under the Biden-Harris administration, so they have supported law enforcement to keep Americans safe.”
Having met with Harris and her husband, Calvert sees a personable presidential candidate who has the ability to unite a divided country.
“She is very kind, she is very affable, she is the kind of person I believe most folks would want to hang out with and have as a friend and I believe she has the temperament to serve as President,” Calvert said.
Rallying people to vote, especially women of color and people in the LGBTQ community, has become an even more paramount mission for Radical Registrars, a nonprofit co-founded by San Antonio native Valerie Reiffert. The nonprofit formed following the murders of George Floyd, Briana Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
“We are fighting for our democracy and our rights,” Reiffert said. “Being a black woman and a woman of color, it is very exciting to see that it’s possible that we’re going to have representation in the highest office in this country.”
Reiffert also denounced Project 2025, calling it a threat to democracy. She expects more engagement from women who might see themselves in Harris to lead the U.S.
“Everybody with a uterus has less rights than we did last presidential election,” Reiffert said in reference to the nationwide issue of abortion rights. “We are making sure that we are registering everybody as possible to able to get registered to vote.
As of Monday night, Harris had secured the support of enough Democratic delegates from across the country to lock down a nomination at the Democratic National Convention in August, according to an AP survey.