Kamala Harris Chosen As Joe Biden’s Running Mate

WASHINGTON, DC — Joe Biden has selected Sen. Kamala Harris, a law-and-order former prosecutor from California, to be his vice presidential running mate in the Nov. 3 election. Biden announced his choice of the senator Tuesday.

"Joe Biden can unify the American people because he's spent his life fighting for us," Harris said on Twitter shortly after Biden made his announcement. "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."

See Also: 5 Things To Know About Kamala Harris, Biden's VP Choice

Harris will become the first Black person, and the third woman, to secure a major party’s vice presidential nomination once she and Biden are formally selected at this month’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.

She already held the distinctions of being the first South Asian American and the second Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Harris’ background is primarily in criminal prosecution, having served as the attorney general of California and, before that, as San Francisco district attorney before she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. The Oakland native ran for president in the Democratic primary this election cycle, dropping out of the race in December and endorsing Biden's campaign in March.

“I have decided with great enthusiasm to endorse Joe Biden for president,” Harris said in her March endorsement announcement.

“I believe in him, and I've known him for a long time,” she said. “We need a leader who unifies the people.”

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Watch Harris’ full endorsement of Biden from March below:

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Harris had been mentioned frequently in talks surrounding Biden’s vice presidential candidate selection and had been called a “front-runner” recently by Politico and others. But a little over a year ago, the two were involved in an intense clash on the debate stage in which Harris attacked the former vice president over his voting record on civil rights issues.

But the two have put that long behind them, with Harris recently quoted as referring to the moment as “just politics.”

Alvin Tillery, associate professor of political science at Northwestern University, said the Harris selection will likely boost enthusiasm for Biden among Black voters.

"This is a winning pick for the Biden campaign in every way imaginable," Tillery said. “Perhaps the most important dimension of this selection is that it shows that Vice President Biden is not nurturing any petty grudges from the primary debates and that he is completely comfortable serving as bridge to the next generation of diverse leaders.”

The Harris pick was also praised by former President Barack Obama, who 12 years ago selected Biden as his running mate during the 2008 presidential election campaign.

“Joe Biden nailed this decision,” Obama said. “By choosing Senator Kamala Harris as America’s next vice president, he’s underscored his own judgment and character.”

Obama called Harris an "ideal partner to help him tackle the very real challenges America faces right now and in the years ahead.”

The California senator joins a Biden campaign that’s ahead in almost all recent polls and will face off against President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump, during his Tuesday news briefing, said he was surprised at the Harris pick, bringing up her performance in the Democratic primaries.

"She did so poorly in the primaries," Trump said. "She's a big tax raiser, a big slasher of funds for our military and has done a lot of things she will have to explain."

The president said Harris was his "No. 1 draft pick" for Biden because of her primary performance and suspending her campaign before any primaries or caucuses were held.

"That's like a poll," he said. "She was very disrespectful to Joe Biden, and it's hard to pick someone who is that disrespectful."

But just days before she was officially selected, Harris showed enthusiasm in the Biden campaign, tweeting July 30: “Donald Trump is terrified. He knows he’s going to lose to @JoeBiden. It will require every single one of us to make that happen.”

Harris was one of a handful of female politicians considered by Biden. Talk surfaced of Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and a few others possibly getting the nod.

"I am extraordinarily proud to support Kamala Harris and Joe Biden," Whitmer said in a tweet after Harris' selection was made official Tuesday. "They will be a fierce team to Build America Back Better."

Stacey Abrams, a former Georgia House of Representatives minority leader and gubernatorial candidate, was another one thought to be in consideration.

Abrams tweeted her support for Biden's decision as well.

"Thrilled to support @KamalaHarris as next VP. I was honored to speak with @JoeBiden at length over the weekend and again today. His focus on reaching out to every corner of our country speaks to how he will lead us. I look forward to doing all I can for Team #BidenHarris!"

Biden made it clear during a March 15 debate with former Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders that he would choose a woman to be his running mate.

Bob Danon, an artist and political blogger in Kansas, is among the many Americans who aren’t surprised by Biden’s pick. But Danon, a former Illinoisan, told Patch more than a year ago — when a dozen candidates were still seeking the Democratic nomination — that it would likely come down to a Biden-Harris ticket.

With one of Danon's predictions already turning out, people will have to wait four years to see if another will do so. He said that Harris would take over for Biden at the top of the ticket come 2024 if the two are elected in November.

Politically, Harris’ “agenda for the people” on her website includes issues such as affordable housing, climate change and LGBTQ+ equality. She has a "Medicare for All" plan and another policy plan that would significantly raise pay for teachers.

Prior to having been called a “rising star” in the Democratic Party while taking her seat as a senator in 2017, Harris’ landmark accomplishment was considered the $25 billion settlement deal she brokered with the nation’s five largest mortgage companies while she was the attorney general of California in 2012. The deal allowed California homeowners to receive $18.4 billion in mortgage relief during a housing crisis.

Her stance on the death penalty has been particularly controversial, especially in the case of a San Francisco police officer who was shot and killed on duty in 2004. As a newly elected district attorney, Harris kept her campaign promise of never seeking the death penalty — even for the man convicted of killing Officer Isaac Espinoza.

Before becoming district attorney, Harris began her legal career with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. She grew up in the Bay Area, graduated from high school in Quebec, Canada, and earned her undergraduate degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C., before returning to California to get her law degree from the University of California-Hastings.

Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick said Biden's selection made for "an extraordinary moment in the history of America and of Howard University." It “represents a milestone opportunity for our democracy to acknowledge the leadership Black women have always exhibited, but has too often been ignored."

Harris will seek to become the first female and first Black vice president once Biden and her nomination is made official at the Democratic National Convention, set to be held mostly remotely from Aug. 17 to 20 in Milwaukee.

"As Senator Harris embarks upon this new chapter in her life, and in our country’s history, she is poised to break two glass ceilings in our society with one fell swoop of her Howard hammer,” Frederick said.

The only other women to have been picked as a running mate by a major party's presidential nominee were Geraldine Ferraro, who ran with Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984, and Sarah Palin, who ran with Republican John McCain in 2008.