In a historic decision announced last week, Kamala Harris is to be Joe Biden’s running mate for the 2020 presidential election. While there was incredible speculation as to who his running mate would be, many political analysts and commenters suspected that Harris would be the most logical decision (despite the sometimes heated exchanges between the two during the Democratic debates earlier in the year).
Harris is the second black woman to be on a major party ticket for national office, and the first Indian-American.
Kamala Harris was one of four finalists for the position (those not chosen include Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and Susan E. Rice). Harris comes to the position highly qualified as a public servant and debater, and despite their previous misgivings, it appears that former-Vice President Biden’s choice in running mate was highly calculated.
The Biden campaign’s promise to choose a woman as the potential vise president came for a number of reasons, but without question, one of those reasons was to appeal to a larger voting field. Many were expecting former national security advisor Susan E. Rice to be the most logical choice, but the Biden campaign ultimately found her to be too inexperienced for this particular role. While the other two candidates for running mate were both qualified and loved by many, each of them would have resulted in an all-white ticket; such a ticket would have likely been detrimental to Biden’s campaign.
Biden has hinted that each of the other three women considered would have other roles in his administration if elected, and many are speculating that Elizabeth Warren may be in the running for Secretary of State.
The polls are still favoring Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the November election, but there is still work to be done by their campaign to secure the election. Mere minutes after the announcement, right-wing commentators began attempting to pick apart Harris’ identity both as a public official and as an American; many conservatives have begun to sing a familiar tune that questions Harris’ birth records and citizenship, as well as her identity as a black Indian-American. Both the Associated Press and the National Public Radio have released fact-check articles that have dismissed these thinly-veiled prejudiced sentiments outright, but that has not stopped the onslaught of criticism that Biden and Harris have received from the right wing.
Regardless of the criticism she’s received since being named Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris’ resume speaks for itself: she is highly qualified, highly competent as a debater, and has a long history of public service. There is no doubt that she will prove to be invaluable to Biden’s campaign.
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