The pick has arrived! After months of speculation and building curiosity over who Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would choose as his running mate, he announced late Tuesday evening that California Senator Kamala Harris, 55, is the woman of the hour.
Harris announced the news of her nomination on her Instagram page, featuring a pic of her and Biden joyfully high-fiving each other. “Joe Biden is a leader who can unify the American people, because he’s spent his life fighting for the American people. And as president, he will build an America that lives up to our ideals,” she wrote. “I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do everything it takes to make @JoeBiden our next Commander-in-Chief.”
On key issues, Harris has been a somewhat controversial figure, sometimes appearing to waffle between stances important to both liberal and conservative voters, according to Politico. What she has been vocal about, however, is advocating for investing in resources against the maternal mortality crisis, which disproportionately affects Black mothers, as they are 3 times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women.
Harris herself ran against Biden as a Democratic hopeful for the presidential pick, but officially withdrew her bid back in December of 2019. Her nomination as Vice-President pick is a historic one: she’s not only the first Black female VP pick, the first Indian woman VP pick, and only the third-ever female VP candidate as well.
Known to her stepson and stepdaughter with husband as “Momola”–a moniker she and the kids devised as a way to respect their mother, Kristin, who Harris has called “an incredible mother,” and her role as their stepmom–the VP candidate is well-versed in the struggle that many moms are facing right now. In a Mother’s Day essay she penned for Elle, Harris wrote about the challenges in juggling work and home life:
“I believe you don’t have to be a U.S. Senator or a candidate for President of the United States for that to ring true,” she said. “Time is precious, and so many of us understand the struggle to seek balance.”
The struggle is real, and if Harris and Biden make it to the White House, could it be the first time that the challenges of balancing motherhood are brought to the political arena? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
