WORCESTER, MA — U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern has come out in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid after President Joe Biden dropped out Sunday, signaling that Democrats in Massachusetts will broadly support her at the nominating convention in August.

McGovern came out early in support of Harris, saying in a Sunday evening tweet that he “wholeheartedly” endorses Harris.

“Throughout her career in public service she has shown an incredible ability to bring people together, take on the big banks & special interests, stand up for the underdog, & fight for what she believes in,” he said.

McGovern is a Democratic delegate who will be part of the nominating convention in Chicago beginning Aug. 19. No other potential Democratic presidential candidates had emerged as of Monday, but it’s possible Harris could face challengers from within her party.

By Monday morning, U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark — the most powerful Democrat from Massachusetts in Congress who serves as the minority whip — had endorsed Harris. U.S. Reps. Jake Auchincloss, Ayanna Pressley, Seth Moulton, Lori Trahan, Bill Keating and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey also backed Harris. Attorney General Andrea Campbell also endorsed Harris, but Gov. Maura Healey and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Pittsfield, hadn’t outright endorsed her as of Monday morning.

Most importantly, Biden endorsed Healey. His delegates are now free to vote for whomever they choose. It’s only the first item on a staggering political to-do list for her after Biden’s decision to exit the race, which she learned about on a Sunday morning call with the president. If she’s successful at locking up the nomination, she must also pick a running mate and pivot a massive political operation to boost her candidacy instead of Biden’s with just over 100 days until Election Day.

On Sunday afternoon, Biden’s campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President, reflecting that she is inheriting his political operation of more than 1,000 staffers and a war chest that stood at nearly $96 million at the end of June. It got bigger by Monday morning: Campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said Harris had raised $49.6 million in donations in the first 15 hours after Biden’s endorsement.

Harris spent much of Sunday surrounded by family and staff, making more than 100 calls to Democratic officials to line up their support for her candidacy, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the effort. It comes as she tries to move her party past the painful, public wrangling that had defined the weeks since the Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate with Donald Trump.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story

Republican party leaders in Massachusetts are questioning President Joe Biden’s fitness to remain in office after the 81-year-old withdrew from the 2024 presidential race on Sunday, endorsing his vice president just weeks ahead of the Democratic Party Convention. And they are objecting to the switch of nominees after the primary process has ended.

“I don’t think anybody expected it to be any different,” said Thomas Hodgson, the chairman of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign in Massachusetts. He is the former Bristol County sheriff.

“The Democrat Party has been hiding what everybody else has seen for a long time: He’s not capable of being president for another term, and frankly he isn’t capable of being president right now. He is cognitively challenged, as everybody knows, and so for us — for America — that’s not a good thing. Who knows how it will play out. If he continues to stay in there, as I said, it’s not a good thing. But given the fact that he’s never there, he works limited hours, it’s the best thing that could happen, and frankly should have happened a lot sooner.”

Although political pundits have speculated that Biden is suffering from cognitive decline and the president has made misstatements in recent weeks, Biden’s statement did not say he was withdrawing because of any health reasons.

Geoff Diehl, who ran for the governor in 2022 and is a supporter of Donald Trump also spoke out against Biden.

‘I’m glad that President Biden has withdrawn. Our country needs a strong leader & he had no mandate to proceed. Be aware, though, that a sitting President who won the primary process, just had a reelection campaign canceled by a handful of party insiders. An atrocious precedent.”

The statements echoed many of the state points Chris LaCivita and Susan Wiles, of Trump’s national campaign said on Sunday.

“Joe Biden cannot take himself out of a campaign for President because he is too mentally incompetent and still remain in the White House,” reads the statement. “Biden is a national security threat in great cognitive decline and a clear and present danger to every man, woman, and child in our country. The question then to Kamala Harris is simple: knowing that Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign because of his rapidly deteriorating condition, does Harris believe the people of America are safe and secure with Joe Biden in the White House for six more months?”  

Massachusetts is back to pre-pandemic numbers when it comes to the workforce. 

About 19,000 jobs were added in June, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Now with an employment total of 3.75 million jobs, Massachusetts has finally surpassed the February 2020 number of total employment — by 9,000 jobs. 

The state’s labor force participation rate, or the percentage of the adult population with a job or seeking one, is currently 65.7%. This is also the highest it’s been since February 2020. 

Although the United States overall has been able to recover from COVID-19 related job loses, Massachusetts has been slow on the uptake.

Slow population growth and retirement affected the Massachusetts job market, according to The Boston Globe, which could possibly explain why it took 54 months to catch up to our pre-pandemic employment numbers. 

However, a gain of 28,000 in the labor force, or the people with a job or currently looking for one, in Massachusetts made up for a slow January and February. The state’s unemployment rate is currently 3.2%, an increase of .2%. 

The sector with the highest number of new jobs was the government, which added 8,300 jobs. Other highlights include the education and health services sector, adding 5,800, and the professional, scientific, and business services, adding 3,300.