Kamala Harris has become the first woman to be elected vice president after running with former Vice President Joe Biden the president-elect.
According to CNBC, Harris’ victory signifies many historical records for the White House. Harris, a daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, will be the first woman and first person identified as Black and as South Asian-American in the position of vice president. She is a graduate of Howard University, making her the first vice president to have graduated from a historically Black college and be a part of a Black sorority.
Harris initially held her presidential campaign this year before becoming the Democratic ticket as Biden’s running mate.
Harris became memorable in politics in California, where she became a San Francisco district attorney before becoming the attorney general of the state and the first African-American to be in that position.
She was criticized by progressives calling for criminal justice reform because of her background as a prosecutor. However, she has argued that she sought reform from within her duties as a prosecutor.
She pledged to never promote the death penalty and kept that promise even when prosecuting someone accused of murdering a San Francisco Police Department officer, infuriating her political followers.
Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. Her skills allowed her to become an interrogator in confirmation hearings for people like Attorney General William Barr and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. She also works under committees for Intelligence, Homeland Security and Budget.
Biden-Harris campaign
Throughout the campaign, Harris has mentioned a quote from her mother, Shyamala, who she said would often tell her, “you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.”
Harris was 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 of Harris as his running mate, 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.
After the announcement of her selection as Biden's running mate, Harris said on Twitter, “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.”
