Kamala Harris has been formally announced as the Democratic presidential nominee for the upcoming election.
On Monday, Kamala Harris was officially named as the Democratic presidential nominee – marking her historic role as the first woman of color to head a major party’s ticket.
After her initial failed bid for presidency over four years ago, Harris has been crowned as the Democratic party’s nominee following a tumultuous and hectic period. This was triggered by Biden’s dreadful June debate that fractured his supporters’ belief in his chances for reelection and provoked intense intra-party conflict regarding whether he should drop out of the race.
After five days of online voting by Democratic National Convention representatives, Harris’ nomination was officially confirmed on Monday night. According to a statement released just before midnight, the party revealed that 99% of delegates cast their ballots in favor of her candidacy. The next step is for the vote to be formally certified prior to a celebratory roll call at the convention taking place later this month in Chicago.
Harris has already indicated that she intends to stay true to the themes and policies which Biden’s campaign was based on – namely, democracy, preventing gun violence and protecting abortion rights. However, her style can be more intense at times: particularly when using her experience as a prosecutor to criticize Trump over his 34 convictions for falsifying business records in relation to a hush money arrangement.
“When fundamental rights, particularly reproductive rights are at stake, and with her distinctive voice as a prosecutor and woman representing the new generation, it appears that this moment in history is perfectly aligned for her,” commented California’s Democratic Senator Alex Padilla who was selected to take over Harris’ position in the Senate after she became Vice President.
Born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California to Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris. Her mother was a breast cancer scientist who moved to the United States from India at age nineteen while her father is a naturalized U.S citizen originally hailing from Jamaica and currently serving as an emeritus professor at Stanford University.
After serving as a prosecutor in the Bay Area for several years, she was promoted to be the state’s attorney general in 2010 and subsequently elected as a U.S. senator in 2016.
