Joe Biden has named Sen. Kamala Harris of California to join him as his running mate, fulfilling his promise to have a woman as his number two, and at the same time making Harris the first Black woman to appear on a major party ticket. The declaration comes after a four-month selection process that saw at least a dozen prominent women vetted for the position.
The selection of Harris was applauded by former President Barack Obama who believed Biden ‘nailed his decision’. In a statement he said: ‘By choosing Senator Kamala Harris as America’s next vice president, he’s underscored his own judgment and character. Reality shows us that these attributes are not optional in a president. They are requirements of the job. And now Joe has an ideal partner to help him tackle the very real challenges America faces right now and in the years ahead’.
Interestingly, given Biden's age, if he wins the election he will be 78 years old on inauguration day. Add this to his lack of a clear commitment to serving a second term, Harris would be better placed than anyone to be America’s first female president, something that Hillary Clinton failed to do in 2016. Harris did make her own run for the White House last year before ending it and endorsing Biden.
Harris is California’s former attorney general and Biden hopes this will go a long way to neutralising Trump’s ‘law and order’ campaign theme, which has tried to portray the Democrats as soft on crime.
Unsurprisingly, Trump wasted no time in broadsiding Biden’s choice calling her disrespectful, mean and nasty. ‘I was surprised that he picked her’ Trump told reporters yesterday. ‘I have been watching her for a long time. I was a little surprised. She was extraordinarily nasty to Brett Kavanaugh — Judge Kavanaugh then, now Justice Kavanaugh. She was nasty to a level that was just a horrible thing the way she treated now-Justice Kavanaugh, and I won’t forget that soon’.