By Sandra G. Leon
Former Vice-President Joe Biden made history this week when he announced that California Senator Kamala Harris will be his running mate, making her the first African-American woman and also the first Indian-American on a major party presidential ticket.
Kamala (pronounced ‘comma la’) Harris, who also ran in the primary election for the Democratic nomination, is the junior US Senator from California and was previously elected as the California Attorney General.
Biden picked Harris from a short list of women that had made the short list of potential running mates after Biden had committed in the primaries that he would choose a woman to join him on the presidential ticket. During the recent and ongoing protests and action on race and criminal justice reform, Biden was also under increasing pressure to chose a woman of color to join him on the campaign.
Credit: The White House
As a new federal administration begins to take shape under President Joe Biden, a growing list of University of California-affiliated alumni and faculty have been nominated or appointed to positions in the new government.
California native Kamala Harris, a graduate of UC Hastings College of Law, is undoubtedly the most prominent of these new faces. With her swearing-in on Jan. 20, she becomes the first UC-affiliated person to ever hold the vice presidency. Dozens of UC-affiliated people, representing virtually all UC campuses, have been tapped to serve in the new administration.
Public service is one of the three core elements of UC’s mission, and these former UC faculty and alumni manifest this mission at its highest level.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) The excitement for Wednesday s inauguration isn t just being seen in Washington D.C., those here in the Bay Area are gearing up for a day that is likely to be very emotional.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was born in Oakland and has ties that run deep here in Northern California and across the state. I suspect, although I don t cry much, tears will come to my eyes, says former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, as he described what is to come - That moment the Bay Area s Kamala Harris takes the oath of office as vice president of the United States with President-elect Joe Biden during Wednesday s inauguration.
Updated: 20 Jan 2021, 21:44
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KAMALA Harris has become the next vice president of the United States, breaking through another racial and gender barrier in US politics.
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Is Kamala Harris the first woman Vice President?
Yes, Kamala Harris is the first female Vice President of the US.
This is the first time in history a woman, and a woman of color, has been elected to such a position in the White House.
Joe Biden won the presidency after triumphing in Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes on Saturday November 7, following days of vote counting after a record turnout.
Shortly after the race was called Kamala Harris tweeted.
Speaking from Delaware on Saturday, Nov. 7, Vice president-elect Kamala Harris paid tribute to Black women who so often prove they are the backbone of our democracy. While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities, Harris said in her first address to the nation as vice president-elect.
Harris was born in Oakland in 1964 and grew up in the East Bay, where she was part of the second class of students to desegregate Berkeley schools. After graduating from UC Hastings Law School in San Francisco, she began working in the Alameda County District Attorney s office before crossing the bay again and becoming the San Francisco District Attorney in 2003. She went on to serve as California s Attorney General before winning the state s junior senator seat in 2016.