Allow us to gloat for a minute. Because a couple of weeks ago, we spotted that Politico posted a story reporting Joe Biden had selected Sen. Kamala Harris as his VP pick, and then quickly took it down. Well, the leak was real!
Today, less than a week before the Democratic National Convention, Biden has announced his running mate. As an Indian-American and Black American, Harris will be the first Black and the first Asian woman nominated for vice president by a major party. If Biden wins in November, she will become the first woman vice president in U.S. history.
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"I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked Kamala Harris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate," Biden said in a statement. He wrote that back when Harris was Attorney General of California, she worked with his son Beau Biden, who died from brain cancer in 2015, who was then the Attorney General of Delaware. "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."
While choosing a running mate, Biden met with multiple focus groups and advocacy organizations, strategists, and experts. He reportedly met in person with some of the candidates and virtually with others, due to the pandemic, examining their rapport with him, their likelihood of helping him win, and their governing ability. Many organizations advocating for Black women have lobbied for him to choose a Black woman, considering their central role in the Democratic Party and the important racial justice moment we are living in now.
"Today is a spark of hope and a watershed moment for Black women and women of color," Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, said in a statement provided to Refinery29. "In the past months, Senator Harris has taken a stand against police brutality in the streets and in the Senate. Her work to understand the struggles of the women of color leading the movement on the ground is what sets her apart in this critical moment. The data has shown that when women of color are inspired to get out to vote in higher numbers, Democrats win. This November, we will do it again."