WHAT’S THE STORY?
DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden has plumped for Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate in the US election coming up at the beginning of November.
If they win, Harris will be the first woman vice-president and she is already the first woman of colour to stand on a presidential ticket. As the V-P is famously only a heartbeat away from the top job and Biden will be 78 if he wins and is inaugurated, Kamala Harris could well be the first black woman President.
The new candidate at least has a sense of humour. Asked to verify the pronunciation of her first name she declared “its comma-la.”
WHO IS SHE?
KAMALA Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California, in 1964 to an Indian mother and Jamaican father. Her mother Shyamala Gopalan was a breast-cancer scientist who emigrated from Tamil Nadu in India in 1960 to earn a doctorate in endocrinology at Berkeley. Her father Donald J. Harris emigrated from what was then British Jamaica to study economics at Berkeley and later became a professor of economics at Stanford University.
Harris’s mother in particular was a civil rights activist and after her divorce from Donald Harris she brought up her girls to appreciate the various different cultures in which they were involved including taking her daughters to visit India.
In her autobiography The Truths We Hold, Harris wrote: “My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.”
WHAT HAS BEEN HER CAREER?
AFTER spending five years in Canada where her mother was teaching, Harris studied political science and then law, graduating from San Francisco’s Hastings College of Law.
She started her working life in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, where she focused on prosecuting child sexual assault cases. From there, she became the first black woman elected as San Francisco’s District Attorney.
Her website biography states: “In 2010, Kamala became the first Black woman to be elected California Attorney General, overseeing the country’s second largest Justice Department, only behind the U.S. Department of Justice. In this capacity, she managed a $735 million budget and oversaw more than 4,800 attorneys and other employees. As California Attorney General, Kamala fought for families and won a $20 billion settlement for California homeowners against big banks that were unfairly foreclosing on homes.”
She ran for the Senate in 2016 and was an original candidate for the presidency itself last year, but saw the Biden victory coming and got out early, backing him to be the candidate - a shrewd move.
Her forensic questioning in the Senate has gained her much attention and she seems genuinely popular with the Democrats.
IS IT TRUE THE TRUMPS ONCE FUNDED HER?
IT is absolutely true and both Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka swore on oath that they donated to her campaigns for attorney general - the eventual total was $8,000.
He described one such case: the donation for Harris that was purportedly solicited and Ivanka helped arrange.
Trump stated: “I made a $5,000 contribution to Ms. Harris’ campaign—the highest level of sponsorship listed in the invitation—and Ivanka attended the event together with some of Trump Org.’s other top executives.”
IS SHE GOOD FOR BIDEN?
HE always said he would pick a woman to be his running mate and kept his word and as a black woman of liberal leanings she compliments Biden.
Last year she told the Washington Post that politicians should not have to fit into compartments because of their colour or background. “My point was: I am who I am. I’m good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I’m fine with it,” she said.
Biden is very happy with his choice saying she was “ready to lead on day one,” an argument he has made for himself on the campaign trail.
He Tweeted: “If Kamala Harris and I are elected, we’re going to inherit multiple crises, a nation divided, and a world in disarray. We won’t have a minute to waste.”
If @KamalaHarris and I are elected, we’re going to inherit multiple crises, a nation divided, and a world in disarray. We won’t have a minute to waste.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 12, 2020
That's exactly why I picked her: She's ready to lead on day one.
WHAT’S TRUMP SAYING NOW?
“SHE is a person that’s told many, many stories that weren’t true,” said The Donald.who added she was mean and nasty. Yep, he’s rattled.
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