San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Harris’ promise:
Vice president- elect says she’ll uphold democracy, assures that her win won’t be the last.
Vice Presidentelect Kamala Harris said Saturday night that voters had protected the integrity of democracy after they elected Joe Biden’s as the next president by a historic margin. “When our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, the very soul of America at stake and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America,” she said.
Harris introduced Biden before he took the stage outside the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., to declare victory after securing the votes needed to become the 46th president of the United States. As they spoke, thousands of supporters at the drivein celebration honked their horns, screamed and waved American flags.
She quoted John Lewis, the late congressman and civil rights icon: “Democracy is not a state, it’s an act.”
“What he meant was that America’s democracy is not guaranteed,” Harris said. “It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it, to guard it and never take it for granted. Protecting our democracy takes struggle, it takes sacrifice, but there is joy in it.”
She also reflected on the historic nature of her win. As Biden’s running mate, Harris will be America’s first female vice president, as well as the first Black person and first Asian American to hold the office.
Harris said generations of women and people of color “paved the way for this moment.” She wore a white pantsuit, a nod to suffragists who fought to ensure women have the right to vote. She called Black women “the backbone of our democracy.”
“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,” she said as the crowd roared.
Harris said her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was the “woman most responsible for my presence here today.” Harris said her mother, an Indian immigrant and leading breast cancer researcher, believed deeply in “an America where a moment like this was possible.”
Biden and Harris received more than 74 million votes as of Saturday, the most for a presidential ticket in U. S history, and 4 million more than Republican President Trump.
While votes were still being counted in several states, the Biden-Harris ticket secured more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win Saturday morning. A victory in Pennsylvania put them over the edge, but they were also poised to win in Arizona and Georgia.
Trump has refused to concede the race although he has no plausible path to winning the electoral college. He has falsely accused Democrats of rigging the election, and his supporters have vowed a legal fight.
Biden moved past the rancor of the election in his victory speech, calling the moment “a time to heal in America.”
“It’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” he said to raucous cheers. “It’s time for America to unite.”
Harris echoed Biden’s message calling for a moment of healing and reconciliation in America. She said the country must come together to address the coronavirus pandemic, systemic racism, climate change and “heal the soul of our nation.”
“The road ahead will not be easy, but America is ready,” Harris said. “And so are Joe and I.”