Joe Biden has selected California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate for the upcoming presidential elections, his campaign announced on Tuesday.
The move makes Harris, 55, the first black woman on a major party ticket for the presidential run. If Biden, 77, wins in November, Harris will become the first female vice president.
“I need someone working alongside me who is smart, tough, and ready to lead. Kamala is that person,” Biden said in a statement.
Harris became the only black female in the U.S. Senate when she was elected in 2016. She has served in the capacity of District Attorney in San Francisco and later, California Attorney General.
Harris officially dropped of the 2020 presidential race due to a lack of financial resources back in September 2019. The Senator experienced issues throughout her campaign that directly impacted her position on the polls, showing a dip in support after she called out Biden for opposing busing students into schools to end segregation succeeding the Jim Crow era.
She also struggled with mixed messaging as she proposed healthcare policies that she later changed her position on. Since then, Harris teamed up with Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley to propose the Saving Our Street (SOS) Act, a $124.5 billion grant program created to aid “micro-businesses” during the COVID-19 pandemic by offering loan forgiveness. The Act is currently in review and has been referred to the Committee on Finance.
“Her record of accomplishment — fighting tooth and nail for what’s right, is why I’m choosing her,” Biden said. “There is no door Kamala won’t knock on, no stone she’ll leave unturned, if it means making life better for the people.”
