Joe Biden has chosen a running mate for his 2020 presidential campaign. The presumptive Democratic nominee announced Kamala Harris as his vice presidential candidate on Tuesday, making her the first Black woman on a major party presidential ticket.
“I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,” Biden tweeted. “Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.”
“.@JoeBiden can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals,” Harris wrote. “I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.”
Biden vowed to pick a woman as his running mate. “I commit that I will in fact pick a woman to be vice president,” he said during a Democratic Debate in Washington D.C. “There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow.”
In addition to joining the presidential campaign, Harris made history the third female VP pick from a major political party, behind Geraldine Ferraro, and Sarah Palin.
Biden’s diverse list of potential VP picks included Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Val Demmings, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Rep. Karen Bass, and Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
Rice, Duckworth, Demming, Harris, Yates, Bass, and Klobuchar, officially endorsed Biden in March. Warren announced her Biden endorsement the next month, followed by Abrams.
In an interview on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in June, Harris reiterated her commitment to helping Biden win, regardless of his vice presidential running mate. “I’m going to tell you in all candor and seriousness, I want Joe Biden to win and I want him to pick whoever helps him win. And I will do, in whatever capacity I am in everything in my power to have him win,” said Harris.
Though Klobuchar removed herself from the race, she was among those urging Biden to choose a woman of color for vice president. Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, told The View in June that she was “thrilled” that her husband committed to picking a running mate, and when asked about potentially choosing a Black woman she added, “We need more women of color in every branch of government.”
The remainder of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign will look slightly different, due to the coronavirus pandemic, which drove him to pause campaign rallies. On June 30, Biden delivered a speech in front of a small group of reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, where he slammed President Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic, and outlined a plan for getting the outbreak under control. When questioned about facing off with President Trump in a presidential debate Biden quipped, “I can’t hardly wait.”
The former vice president announced his bid for president in April 2019. “We are in the battle for the soul of this nation,” Biden said a campaign video. “If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”
