Kamala Devi Harris Makes History

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate in the 2020 election on Tuesday. While Harris started as an early favorite for the vice presidential nomination among party insiders, recent comments about Harris’s “ambition” and attitude from high-profile party insiders left pundits second-guessing. Notably, the former prosecutor faced off with Biden and over 20 other candidates in the Democratic Primary before dropping out of the presidential race in December. Harris, born to an Indian mother and Jamaican father, is a historic candidate as the first Black woman and first South Asian to be nominated for the presidential ticket. For some, it’s a long-overdue acknowledgment of the critical role Black women have played in Democratic politics. 

While not everyone believes Harris is the ideal choice, some are already crossing party and ideological lines to support the Biden-Harris ticket. For many, continued vitriol against Harris is expected — she is a prominent woman of color in politics and a moderate at a time when many young Democrats are moving further left. Still, even though Harris isn’t from a swing state, they believe she is the candidate who can help former Vice President Biden cross the finish line this November. 

Harris began her political career at age 39, when she was elected as the 27th district attorney of San Francisco in 2003. She went on to become attorney general of the Golden State. As the state’s junior senator, Harris, now 55, currently serves on the Senate’s Judiciary, Budget, and Homeland Security committees, in addition to the Select Committee on Intelligence. While some on the left have criticized Harris’s experience as California’s “top cop,” others argue she was an exceptionally progressive district attorney. Her skills as a former prosecutor have been on display during Trump-era Senate hearings. Harris went viral for grilling Attorney General William Barr at the Senate hearing on Russian election interference last May and for questioning Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearing.