Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as his running mate on Thursday, calling the California Senator “a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants.”
“Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau,” Biden said of his late son. “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.”
Harris said she was “honored” to join Biden and “do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.” Biden, she added, “can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us.” The pair will appear together on Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware.
Harris, a leading Capitol Hill critic of the Trump administration, had long been seen as a top contender to fill out the Democratic ticket, despite a debate stage dustup between the two during the primary. Taking the former vice president to task over his record on race, Harris hit him over his comments on school busing: “That little girl was me,” she said in one of the highlights of her 2019 bid.
Some Biden allies, particularly Ed Rendell, had mobilized against her selection in the press. But Harris never dropped from consideration; a longstanding Biden friend, she had a warm relationship with Beau Biden, and proved an effective surrogate for his candidacy after she exited the race. In joining Biden’s ticket, Harris has become a Democratic standard-bearer. At 77, Biden is likely only to serve a single term if elected, giving his future vice president an outsize role.
Harris, who is of Black and Indian descent, is the first woman of color to be on a major party ticket; she is the third woman to be considered as a major party running mate, after Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008. The selection of Harris, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “marks an historic and proud milestone for our country.” Harris’s sister, Maya, also highlighted the historic nature of her candidacy.
Biden announced this year that he would only consider women candidates as potential running mates. Harris was one of several Democrats said to receive consideration, including Elizabeth Warren, Stacey Abrams, Susan Rice, Tammy Duckworth, and Karen Bass. Rice congratulated Harris, who she called “a tenacious and trailblazing leader who will make a great partner on the campaign trail.”
Harris mounted her own formidable campaign for the Democratic primary in 2019, demanding in her launch speech to return to the nation a sense of “decency and moral clarity”—a clarion call that Biden has made a signature of his own bid.
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