Sen. Kamala D. Harris named as Joe Biden’s running mate Biden picks Sen. Kamala D. Harris as vice presidential nominee Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden picked Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate on Aug. 11. (Mahlia Posey, Blair Guild/The Washington Post) By Matt Viser and Amanda Erickson August 11, 2020 at 6:34 p.m. ADT Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday picked Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate. Harris will be the first Black woman and first Asian American to run for vice president, representing a historic choice at a moment when the country is grappling with its racial past and future. Biden’s announcement, made in a text and tweet, elevated a former presidential candidate whose most electric campaign performance came when she criticized his record on school integration during a debate. “Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau,” Biden tweeted, referring to his late son, then the attorney general of Delaware. “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.” Harris, 55, is the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants. The first-term senator previously served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general. Biden and Harris are scheduled to appear together, in person, on Wednesday for the first time as a ticket, following the debut of a new logo and a new campaign website. The move puts Biden, who served as vice president to the nation’s first Black president, in a history-making role in naming the nation’s first Black woman vice-presidential nominee. He also has pledged, if elected, to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court. The decision carries major implications not only for the November election but for the future of the Democratic Party. Biden, 78 years old by Inauguration Day, would be the oldest president ever and has said he considers himself “a transition candidate.” The choice places Harris at the forefront of the party’s future. Following a months-long process, which included vetting nearly a dozen women as potential nominees, Biden on Tuesday began informing some of the others that they were not chosen. Former Obama national security adviser Susan E. Rice, who was among the finalists, quickly put out a statement congratulating Harris. “Senator Harris is a tenacious and trailblazing leader who will make a great partner on the campaign trail,” Rice wrote. “I am confident that Biden-Harris will prove to be a winning ticket.” Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), who was also under serious consideration, reflected on the historic nature of the pick. “To see a Black woman nominated for the first time reaffirms my faith that in America, there is a place for every person to succeed no matter who they are or where they come from,” she said. Harris’ prosecutorial record has drawn attacks from party liberals, who have criticized her past stances as too harsh and contend that her record does not meet a moment when police misconduct has rocketed into the national conversation. But Harris also has built a reputation in Washington as a sharp questioner in Senate hearings, particularly of Trump administration nominees. She has been a forceful advocate for Black families during the novel coronavirus pandemic, and she helped draft a bill ending qualified immunity for police. Some of those who were skeptical of her during her campaign have softened their views in recent months. Harris kicked off her presidential campaign little more than two years after joining the Senate, with an electrifying Oakland, Calif., rally that drew more than 22,000 supporters. But she struggled to define herself to voters, shifting from one message to the next. She failed to take off in the polls and dropped out in early December, citing financial problems. Harris and Biden have known each other for several years, and as the former vice president noted in his announcement, Harris worked closely with Beau Biden when both served as attorneys general. That made it all the more shocking to Biden and his team when, at the first Democratic primary debate, Harris went after Biden for his nostalgic talk about working with two segregationist senators. “It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country,” Harris said during the debate. She also took Biden to task for his opposition to mandatory busing. On the debate stage, she described a little girl who had benefited from her city’s busing program. “And that little girl was me,” she said. Within hours, her campaign was selling shirts emblazoned with the words and a childhood picture of Harris. Biden’s wife, Jill, has described that moment as being “like a punch to the gut.” But since then, the two have publicly made up, with Harris acting as a surrogate for Biden and appearing with him and his wife in campaign events. In a June appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Harris jokingly defended her performance, saying: “It was a debate! The whole reason — literally, it was a debate. It was called a debate.” “I’d be honored, if asked, and I’m honored to be a part of the conversation,” Harris told Colbert. “Honestly, let me just tell you something: I will do everything in my power, wherever I am, to help Joe Biden win.” In late July, Biden was photographed with notes he had written to himself about Harris on his personal stationery. Included were: “talented,” “great help to campaign” and “do not hold grudges.” President Trump, in the aftermath of Harris’s presidential candidacy announcement, was said to be impressed with the size of the crowd she attracted. But within 30 minutes of the announcement of her selection Tuesday, the president tweeted a 30-second ad created by his campaign that criticized Harris for some of her more liberal positions, including a willingness to embrace Medicare-for-all. (She later came under pressure from liberal Democrats for adopting a more moderate definition of the health-care plan.) “Voters rejected Harris. They smartly spotted a phony — but not Joe Biden, he’s not that smart,” the narrator on the ad says. “Biden calls himself a transition candidate. He is handing over the reins to Kamala while they jointly embrace the radical left. Slow Joe and Phony Kamala.” Biden said July 28 that he would name his running mate by the end of the first week of August, after extending his initial pledge to name the pick around Aug. 1. Aides then said it had slipped further. For weeks, advisers have been vetting the candidates in interviews and via extended searches into their backgrounds, records and personal experiences. He had promised months ago to pick a woman, reflecting the dominance of female voters in the party and his effort to make a historic choice. Were he to win, the nominee would become the first female vice president. The selection process has been a mix of transparency and secrecy. While Biden has held his thoughts closely, with many allies saying he has been deliberately vague about his preferences, the parade of prospective candidates has played out publicly. Several have broken with past practice and acknowledged an interest in the job; others, such as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), have taken themselves out of the mix in a similarly public way. Biden has sought the same kind of “simpatico” relationship with his pick that he shared with President Barack Obama, in which he served as the last adviser on big administration decisions. He also has put a high premium on loyalty, according to those familiar with the search. But his choice was also affected by events coursing across the nation. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) once looked like a front-runner, but the killing of George Floyd and other unarmed Black people put a spotlight on her record as a prosecutor, which has drawn criticism from Black activists. Klobuchar eventually removed herself from the running, saying that Biden should pick a woman of color for the ticket. Biden also faced pressure to delay the pick until closer to the Democratic convention, which begins Aug. 17, to build a sense of momentum for an event that will largely be virtual, lacking the balloon-and-bunting atmosphere of the traditional convention celebrations. In normal times, the two running mates would barnstorm around the country after the announcement, trying to lift the enthusiasm level of their own partisans and potentially attract new supporters. But Biden has held no large events since March, and has none planned. Harris will formally be nominated at the national party convention. She is then scheduled to debate Vice President Pence on Oct. 7 in Utah. The presidential debates — three are currently scheduled — will begin in September, barring any adjustments to the schedule. Two of them have already changed locations after the original host colleges determined it was unsafe to sponsor the event. Election 2020: What to know Updated August 11, 2020 Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has chosen Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate. Get live updates on his pick and the election. President Trump attempted to bypass Congress and make dramatic changes to tax and spending policy, though there were instant questions about whether his actions were as ironclad as he made them out to be. More Americans can vote by mail in November than before the pandemic; find out which states have changed rules. Barring a landslide, we may not have a result in the presidential election on Nov. 3. See what elections are coming up and which have moved. Sign up: Want to understand what’s happening in the campaign? Sign up for The Trailer and get insights and news from across the country in your inbox three days a week. 10.1k Comments Today’s Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Enter your email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Most ReadPolitics 1 Sen. Kamala D. Harris named as Joe Biden’s running mate 2 Kamala Harris grew up in a mostly white world. Then she went to a black university in a black city. 3 ‘I am who I am’: Kamala Harris, daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, defines herself simply as ‘American’ 4 Analysis What you need to know about Kamala Harris 5 Analysis What Trump has said about Kamala Harris Ad Choices washingtonpost.com © 1996-2020 The Washington Post