On November 3, 2020, the United States of America is set for a pivotal election where Joe Biden will face the current President Donald Trump. There was a surge of optimism worldwide when the Democratic Party Presidential candidate Joe Biden chose, and appointed Kamala Harris as his Vice Presidential candidate. Kamala Devi Harris, born in Oakland California is an American politician as well as a lawyer who has served as the Junior United States Senator from California since 2017. She also ran for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination, then fighting against Mr Biden and went on to attract national attention ending her campaign on December 3, 2019.
After the announcement by nominee Joe Biden on August 11, 2020 – Ms Harris tweeted that Mr Biden “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.” After studying at Howard University, Kamala Harris went on to attend the University of California, Hastings to earn her law degree. This led her to start working in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. In 2003, she became the first woman as well as the first African American to serve as California’s Attorney General, the top lawyer and law enforcement official in America’s most populous state. According to an article in the BBC, In her nearly two terms in office as attorney general, Ms Harris gained a reputation of being one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars, using this momentum to propel her to election as California’s junior US senator in 2017. She was only the second black woman ever elected to the US senate
The role of a Vice President entails, the Vice-president stepping into the top job should the President pass away or leave office during his or her term. Since nominee Joe Biden would be the oldest President, if elected, his age means Mr Biden’s vice-presidential choice may come under extra scrutiny. Further, a woman of color has never been appointed to a presidential ticket by either of the two main American political parties. No woman has won the US presidency either – making this nomination one of the biggest ever.
As stated in reports, Kamala Harris, as Joe Biden’s Vice Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party ticket, is a choice that delights both African Americans and Indian Americans. As an African American as well as an American of Indian descent, she will be representing the future vision of the United States – as a woman, as well as a diverse individual which represents the United States. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris , a cancer researcher and civil rights activist, was married to Donald Harris, an economics professor, and the couple were active in the civil rights movement. As a Presidential hopeful, Harris began talking more about her mother’s influence and the Indian connection. Harris therefore, will definitely excite many Indian American voters in the Democratic Party; just as she will go on to trouble those who support President Donald Trump. She also has a focus on the stance toward Indian, and policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to reports, when questioned by a Kashmiri activist, Harris went on to say that she was ‘watching’ developments emerging in India and that democratic ‘values’ are an important part of the US agenda. However, some older generation Indian Americans see the Biden candidacy as unfriendly to India and too keen to please Muslim Americans. Biden has gone out of his way to stress the strategic importance of the India-US partnership. Polls conducted by The Politico reveal that a slim majority of voters, 53 per cent, approve of Biden picking the California senator to join the Democratic ticket. That’s a significantly greater number than the 29 per cent who disapprove of Harris as Democrats’ Vice Presidential candidate. Considering that the US has a growing Indian American voter population, picking Kamala as Vice President may be a strategic move to attract Indian voters.
