Vice President Kamala Harris is moving with lightning speed to make her nomination a foregone conclusion after President Biden ended his campaign today.

• Harris is calling party leaders and elected officials to lock down her party's presidential nomination, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: Harris' team knows that time is the enemy. Many party leaders are extremely leery about having an open process 3½ months before the election.

• In short order, Harris received endorsements from President Biden, former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

👀 But former President Obama doesn't plan to endorse her, according to a person familiar with the matter.

• "Just like he did in 2020 once Joe Biden earned the nomination, President Obama believes he will be uniquely positioned to help unite the party once we have a nominee, lift up that candidate, and do everything he can to get that candidate elected in November," the person said.

Zoom out: Despite the days of speculation that Biden would bow out, the party was stunned when he finally did.

Between the lines: Now some party leaders and major donors are trying to create a sense of inevitability around Harris.

• "With Biden out, the party has just one candidate who has run for national office previously — she is proven on the campaign trail, in the situation room and in the Oval Office," former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told Axios.
• "It's time to unite behind our outstanding vice president, Kamala Harris."

Zoom in: The Democratic National Committee has not clarified the process for selecting its party's presidential nominee.

• State party leaders, who have some control over the nearly 4,000 delegates who will formally pick the nominee, scheduled a call for 5pm ET today to discuss their next moves.
• Party officials are in the dark on whether the DNC plans to stick with its plans to hold a virtual roll call in early August or at the actual convention in Chicago two weeks later.

The bottom line: "We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win," Harris said in a statement this afternoon.

On Capitol Hill, the leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the center-left New Democrat Coalition and the Congressional Black Caucus all quickly endorsed Harris.

Between the lines: Harris' emerging support on Capitol Hill transcends many of Democrats' traditional dividing lines, with frontliners, progressives, moderates, white, Black and Hispanic lawmakers all backing her.

• "I know she is already in conversation with members," Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.) told Axios. "I've spoken to folks who have spoken to her … today."
• "Her team is fully activated.… Our California delegation is coalescing very rapidly, so I'm sure that's happening in other delegations in real time," said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), one of the dozens of House Democrats who had pressed Biden to exit the race.
• A House Democrat who hasn't endorsed Harris told Axios: "She's getting a ton of support/endorsements from members on our various Signal chats."

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Biden's exit announcement came together in a late-night writing session, according to reporting from Axios' Hans Nichols and the N.Y. Times.

Yesterday: Biden worked on his letter exiting the race with top aides Steve Ricchetti, Annie Tomasini and Mike Donilon at his Rehoboth Beach, Del., home.

• Biden's family and closest aides learned that he was leaving.

Today: Biden, in separate calls, told VP Harris, his White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and his campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon shortly ahead of the public announcement.

• Biden told his other top staffers one minute before his tweet.
• Zients convened the Cabinet for a virtual session shortly after the announcement to share the president's decision.

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