By Dominique Mosbergen
Black Voices
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has tapped Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) to be his running mate.
In a tweet announcing his choice, the former vice president described Harris as “a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants.”
There are many reasons why Harris, a former attorney general of California and ex-district attorney of San Francisco, is a historic pick for the ticket. Here are some:
She is the first African American and first Asian American to be nominated for vice president by a major political party.
Harris’ mother was an Indian immigrant and her father was a Jamaican immigrant.
Harris has described herself as “a proud American” whose African American and Indian heritage “are of equal weight in terms of who I am.”
Harris will be only the fourth woman on major party’s national ticket.
The previous three ― Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016; Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee; and Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee ― all lost their bids for president or vice president.
The Biden-Harris ticket will be the first Democratic ticket since the 1980s to not have an Ivy League alumnus on it
Biden earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Delaware and got his law degree from Syracuse University. Harris is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C. She earned her law degree at the University of California, Hastings.
Harris is the first graduate of Howard University to be on a major party ticket.
Harris graduated from the historically Black university in 1986.
The school’s president, Wayne A. I. Frederick, lauded Harris joining the ticket, calling it an “extraordinary moment in the history of America” and Howard University ― one that “represents a milestone opportunity for our democracy to acknowledge the leadership Black women have always exhibited.”
Harris, who earlier campaigned against Biden in a bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said Tuesday that she was “honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President.”
Biden, she said, “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.”
