The VP-Elect: A Woman of Firsts
Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s running mate and former California Senator, has made history as the first Black, first South Asian-American, and first female elected as vice president. Harris is the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants. She also attended Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, D.C., during a time of activism and Black pride on campus.
Harris and Biden came together on the evening of their projected win in Wilmington, Delaware, to give individual victory speeches. Harris' words highlighted the significance of a woman — and a woman of color, at that — finally being elected into a position of power in the White House.
“When [my mother] came here from India at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible,” Harris said. “And so, I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black women, Asian, White, Latina, Native American women who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty and justice for all, including the Black women, who are often, too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.”
The 56-year-old Democrat is a woman of firsts, even before becoming vice president-elect. She was the first female District Attorney of San Francisco (2004-2011), the first female Attorney General of California (2011-2017), and the first Indian American in the U.S. Senate (2017-2020).
Harris’s election imposes several cracks into what former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the “highest and hardest glass ceiling,” between women and the White House.
The first Black woman to be seen on a national party’s ticket during an election cycle was Charlotta Bass. She was nominated as the Progressive Party’s vice presidential pick in 1952. Twenty years later, New York congresswoman Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman to run for president; unlike Bass, she ran with the more-established Democratic party.
Harris, who ran for president in the primaries, has spoken of the “stroller’s-eye view of the civil rights movement” she grew up with, attending marches with her parents. She joined activists in the streets this past summer, after the police killing of George Floyd, to support demands for an end to racial injustice and police brutality.
Though Harris had branded herself as a “progressive prosecutor” throughout her career in some of California’s highest-ranking law enforcement offices, she also declared herself California’s “top cop” in 2016.
Over the course of her 13-year career in law enforcement, Harris was involved in several decisions that left the public unsure of where she stands on key issues. For instance, she refused to pursue the death penalty for a man convicted of killing a police officer at the start of her career, but later defended California’s death penalty system in court. She now advocates for the elimination of lawful execution.
In the wake of police brutality this past summer, Harris told the New York Times that “it is status quo thinking to believe that putting more police on the streets creates more safety. That’s wrong. It’s just wrong.” This differs from her stance on policing just a decade ago. In 2009, she released a book entitled, “Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer,” and spoke about policing in a chapter detailing the “tools of crime.”
"If we take a show of hands of those who would like to see more police officers on the street, mine would shoot up,” Harris said. “Virtually all law-abiding citizens feel safer when they see officers walking a beat. This is as true in economically poor neighborhoods as in wealthy ones…But in addition to putting more police on the street, we have to look at the way officers are being deployed and how we measure whether they are achieving the goal of creating a safer community.”
Supporters say this shift in opinion shows Harris has had a change of heart, while critics say this only supports their distrust in her ability to consistently stand up for any one issue.
At a press conference last January at her alma mater, Harris said she regrets some of her decisions, adding that there were times when “folks...made a decision in my office who did not consult with me and I wish they had.” Nevertheless, she said she takes full responsibility for all that her office has done, and that “there is a lot about what [she] did as a prosecutor that [she’s] proud of.”
During the same press briefing, she said she has made decisions in the past that “unfortunately” went against her beliefs, citing her defense of California’s choice to deny sexual reassignment surgery to an inmate who was transgender. To this point, she said she was obligated as attorney general to defend the state’s position in the case.
Though her involvement in this decision challenges her support for the trans community, Harris has been celebrated for her establishment of a hate crimes unit to investigate and prosecute anti-LGBTQ+ violence. She also initiated challenges to the so-called “gay and transgender panic defense,” in which a defendant claims self-defense against unwanted same-sex sexual advances in order to lessen charges for their violent, and sometimes lethal, actions. California became the first state to ban the use of this defense in a court of law in 2018.
In 2019, Harris unveiled proposals to scale back mass incarceration, end cash bail, and eliminate the death penalty as part of her campaign for President. She has yet to announce whether or not she will follow through on these plans as Vice President.
Harris’s path from local to state to national politics is seen as an inspiration to many -- especially women and people of color, who do not see themselves represented in politics nearly as often as white men. Harris also has a substantial history of legislative work that focused on women’s issues, and women of color’s issues specifically, such as maternal mortality among Black women and access to abortion.
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities,” Harris said at her victory speech. “To the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they’ve never seen it before. But know that we will applaud you every step of the way.”
While there are many unknowns about what is to come with a new presidency, the Biden administration will add a level of diversity to the White House that highly contrasts the cabinet of Donald Trump’s 87% white, 83% male majority. After enduring four years with a divisive president, the nation will soon have leaders who — as Harris puts it — aim to “unite our country and heal the soul of our nation.”
