Biden set to name his running mate, Harris still in race

WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris, the California senator of mixed Indian and Black descent, remains on a narrowing list of names that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden could pick as his running mate for the race for US president.

An announcement on Biden’s pick for vice-president is expected as soon as this week. Congresswoman Karen Baas, former national security adviser Susan Rice, Senator Tammy Duckworth, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms are also on the list.

On Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced the list of speakers for four nights of the party convention to be held virtually from August 17. At the convention, Biden will be officially crowned as the party’s nominee to take on President Donald Trump, the Republican incumbent.

Convention speakers include former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and former first ladies Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Also on the list were Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most senior woman politician in the US, and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the two leaders of the progressive wing of the party, and Alexandria OcasioCortez, the rock-star progressive congresswoman from New York.

Former Ohio governor John Kasich, a Republican, is also on the list of speakers in recognition perhaps of — and in a tactical move to tap into — Republicans opposed to President Trump. The Lincoln Project — a group of former Republican strategists and operatives that include John McCain campaign head Steve Schmidt, Mitt Romney campaign strategist Stuart Stevens and several leading NeverTrumpers — has run some of the most hard-hitting campaign ads against Trump.