A Brit's Guide To Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's New Presidential Running Mate
Joe Biden ended months of speculation last night when he announced Kamala Harris will be his running mate in this year’s US presidential election.
Regardless of who wins in November, the decision has already made history – Harris is the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket.
I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 11, 2020
And there’s one other, slightly crass thing that makes it potentially even more significant. If he wins, Biden would be 78 when he is inaugurated in January, the oldest man to ever assume the presidency, so the deputy could well find herself being promoted to chief.
A woman has still never served as president or vice president in the United States.
Just two women have even been nominated as running mates on major party tickets: Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Republican Sarah Palin in 2008. Their parties both lost in the elections of those years.
But who is Kamala Harris and what does she stand for?
.@JoeBiden 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.— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 11, 2020
The basics
Harris is a 55-year-old first-term senator with a background in law enforcement, having served as California attorney general and district attorney in San Francisco.
Her mother was an Indian immigrant and her father was a Jamaican immigrant and she has described herself as “a proud American” whose African American and Indian heritage “are of equal weight in terms of who I am”.
