History made as Harris joins Biden’s ticket

DEMOCRATIC pesidential nominee Joe Biden has named California Senator and former opponent Kamala Harris as his running mate, making history by selecting the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket.

The 55-year-old first-term senator is also one of the party’s most prominent figures and quickly became a top contender for the number two spot after her own White House campaign ended.

Harris joins Biden in the 2020 race at a moment of unprecedented national crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people in the US, far more than the toll experienced in other countries.

Business closures and disruptions resulting from the pandemic have caused an economic collapse. Unrest, meanwhile, has emerged across the country as Americans protest racism and police brutality.

Harris’s record as California attorney general and district attorney in San Francisco was heavily critisised during the Democratic primary and turned off some liberals and younger black voters who saw her as out of step on issues of systemic racism in the legal system and police brutality.

She tried to strike a balance on these issues, declaring herself a “progressive prosecutor” who backs law enforcement reforms.

Mr Biden, who spent eight years as president Barack Obama’s vice president, has spent months weighing who would fill that same role in his White House.

He pledged in March to select a woman as his vice-president, easing frustration among Democrats that the presidential race would centre on two white men in their 70s.