Harris gives US voters a stark choice
In New Zealand there is a proud tradition of elevating female political leaders. Jenny Shipley, Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern have run the country, and Judith Collins is the Opposition Leader vying to become our fourth female Prime Minister.
Other countries have also had women leaders, but the United States has been a notable exception.
This week could mark the first step towards an eventual milestone for the superpower, with former Vice-President Joe Biden’s selection of California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate.
The US-born daughter of immigrants — a Jamaican father and Indian mother — is already a historic pick as the first Black and south Asian woman to be part of a major party ticket.
To really bust the glass ceiling, the Democratic candidates first have to win, and that is not a given against Republican President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence.
Biden leads in poll averages but the margins have tightened slightly since June and there are still conventions and debates to go. Early voting starts in a month but the process is under a coronavirus cloud. Trump is also arguing against mail ballots. Polls mean nothing if people do not vote.
There have been two previous female vice-presidential candidates, Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008, but both were on losing tickets. The first female nominee for a major party, Hillary Clinton in 2016, also lost.
US voters have seen several female Secretaries of State, but no woman in the deputy role, a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Maybe actually seeing a woman performing that job could make it easier in the future for US voters to imagine a woman behind the Resolute desk.
With Biden, 77, possibly likely to serve only one term if he wins, Harris, 55, would be in the box seat to succeed him. The former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney-general has the qualifications and experience. Time is on her side.
Harris, like former President Barack Obama, is a moderate rather than a more ideological figure. In the Democratic primary, she struggled to project a defined, authentic sense of who she is. In the general election it makes her a harder target for opponents to pin down.
And like Obama, Harris has charisma, an interesting life story with time spent overseas in her youth, and is a trailblazer.
After a drawn-out selection process, Biden appears to have made a solid choice who will also deliver excitement and promise. He’s put down a big deposit on his vow to build an administration that looks like diverse America.
With the selection of Harris the party lines are starkly drawn between two different visions of the country.