After a seemingly endless selection process, Joe Biden announced this afternoon that he had selected California Senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate. Harris will be the first Black woman and first South Asian American ever nominated as Vice President, and only the third woman in history to be on a major party ticket.
In an email to supporters making the announcement, Biden laid out his case for Kamala.
These aren’t normal times. For the first time in our history, we’re facing three historic crises — all at the same time. We’re facing the worst pandemic in 100 years. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The most powerful calls for racial justice in a generation. And we have a president who has both failed to lead on the virus — costing lives and decimating our economy — and fanned the flames of hate and division.
I need someone working alongside me who is smart, tough, and ready to lead. Kamala is that person.
I need someone who understands the pain that so many people in our nation are suffering. Whether they’ve lost their job, their business, a loved one to this virus. This president says he “doesn’t want to be distracted by it”. He doesn’t understand that taking care of the people of this nation — all the people — isn’t a distraction — it’s the job. Kamala understands that.
I need someone who understands that we are in a battle for the soul of this nation. And that if we’re going to get through these crises — we need to come together and unite for a better America. Kamala gets that.
This ticket comes despite some tensions between Biden and Harris in early Democratic debates which the pair seems to have put behind them. That moment, however, may prove helpful now because that debate and her whole campaign showed that Harris could be a strong, powerful voice for the marginalized people in America who have the most at stake in this election.
Harris definitely has the right balance of charisma, name-recognition, and experience to be the running mate that Biden needs and was the clear favorite of many in guessing the final pick. The daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, she represents the future of an America we want to see.
Now she’ll face a whole host of attacks from all sides, but if there’s anyone that can handle it with grace and power, it’s Kamala Harris.
(via: NPR, image: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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