Washington, DC – Democratic Presidential hopeful Joe Biden announced Tuesday afternoon that he had chosen U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-California) as his running mate for the 2020 election.
“I’ve decided that Kamala Harris is the best person to help me take this fight to Donald Trump and Mike Pence and then to lead this nation starting in January 2021,” Biden said in an email sent to supporters on Aug. 11.
Harris, a former Democratic primary rival, is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants who rose to political fame as a prosecutor in California, according to Politico.
She pursued tough anti-crime policies during her two terms as the California attorney general that have frequently been at odds with the new Black Lives Matter prison reform and decriminalization platform planks, but the former prosecutor has since taken a hard political left and promoted anti-police positions.
Biden’s choice of Harris as his Vice Presidential running mate fulfilled a promise made by the Democrats at the height of the anti-police riots to select a black woman candidate, FOX News reported.
I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 11, 2020
Biden had already made the commitment to choose a woman back in March.
“I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief,” Harris tweeted after the announcement was made.
.@JoeBiden 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.
I'm honored to join him as our party's nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 11, 2020
The campaign said that Biden and Harris would appear together at a rally in Wilmington, Delaware on Wednesday, FOX News reported.
The decision indicated that previous disagreements and grudges resulting from Harris’s crushing attack on Biden during the primary debates had been forgiven and forgotten.
Harris viciously criticized Biden’s longtime record on segregation and busing on the debate stage, FOX News reported.
Harris endorsed Biden alongside rival U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) ahead of the Michigan primary in March.
“I believe in Joe. I believe in Joe,” Harris said when she endorsed him. “I know Joe. And that’s why I’m supporting him.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2020
President Donald Trump tweeted out a new campaign ad shortly after the announcement was made that called the Vice Presidential candidate “phony Kamala Harris,” FOX News reported.
Holly Matkin
