History maker Harris on path to Oval Office
Sat with her great-niece on her lap just hours after US election day, Kamala Harris tells the four-year-old that one day she could become president.
However, if her great aunt continues her meteoric rise in US politics, little Amara Ajagu will be unable to create such history as America’s first black female leader.
As Joe Biden closes in on the Oval Office following a 33-year wait from when he first entered the White House race, Harris will become the most powerful woman in the States as his vice-president.
“Kamala has sent the strongest message yet that one day we will have equality in the White House,” woman’s right activist Candice Worthington said.
“Fourteen previous vicepresidents have gone on to become president. If not before, 2024 should be the year the world finally has a woman as leader of the free world.”
Many see Harris’s vicepresidency as the longest job interview for what will ultimately see her in the Oval Office – some believe much sooner than thought. Biden’s age and concerns over his mental health have raised the prospect she would take over from the president if he is unable to run the country.
With a Jamaican father and Indian mother, the 56-year-old will become the first Black Asian American and first woman to serve as the nation’s vice-president.
And for the first time since Ronald Reagan, a Californian is on a major party presidential ticket – the first time for a California Democrat.
She will provide the liberal west, including Silicon Valley, a voice in office the likes of which have not been seen before.
Harris’s rise to prominence in the Senate came as an adversary to Trump, holding progressive leftwing ideas. As a charismatic Black woman, she can also speak personally to the racial injustices that have surged to the forefront of America’s consciousness following the death of George Floyd.
Harris has described herself as a “top cop” in her previous roles in California where she served as Attorney General.
She has supported highly contentious taxpayer-funded abortions, arguing they would save the lives of lower-income women. They are values her family know only too well, who millions of women look set to benefit from.