Sen. Kamala Harris of California has been chosen by former Vice President Joe Biden to join him on the Democratic ticket. Harris is running for vice president in the US.
With this, Biden has fulfilled his promise to choose a woman as a running mate. This means Harris is the first Black woman to participate in a major party ticket.
Biden’s decision is believed to be expanding the racial diversity, gender parity and generational breadth in his campaign. Choosing Harris, 55, also serves a strategic decision to keep his ticket within the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party.
“Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau,” tweeted Biden, referring to his late son, Beau Biden. “I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.”
After the announcement of her selection, Harris said in her own tweet, “Joe Biden can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals. I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.”
Former President Barack Obama lauded his vice president’s decision. “Joe Biden nailed this decision,” Obama said in a statement. “By choosing Senator Kamala Harris as America’s next vice president, he’s underscored his own judgment and character. Reality shows us that these attributes are not optional in a president. They’re requirements of the job. And now Joe has an ideal partner to help him tackle the very real challenges America faces right now and in the years ahead.”
Meanwhile, former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice expressed her support for Harris in a statement, describing her “a tenacious and trailblazing leader who will make a great partner on the campaign trail.” Rep. Karen Bass of California shared the same sentiment, saying in a tweet that Harris’ “tenacious pursuit of justice and relentless advocacy for the people is what is needed right now.”
Who is Kamala Harris?
Harris is a first-term senator who served as California’s attorney general from 2010-16. She co-sponsored the first-ever bill to make lynching a federal crime in 2018 as a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Harris was also a co-author of Democrats’ police reform legislation, created in response to the protests following the murder of George Floyd and the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black EMT.
“We’ve all watched her hold the Trump administration accountable for its corruption, stand up to a Justice Department that’s run amok, and be a powerful voice against their extreme nominations,” said Biden in his announcement, lauding her experience in the Senate.
Harris’ mother was a respected breast cancer researcher who immigrated to the US from India in the 1960s. Meanwhile, Donald Harris, her father, is an economist who spent much of his work at Stanford University.
“She’s been a leader on criminal justice and marriage equality. And she has focused like a laser on the racial disparities as a result of the coronavirus,” Biden said.
