Vice President Kamala Harris: Vying to Become the First Woman President in U.S. History

By Jeffrey L. Boney
Special to the Garland Journal from the Houston Forward Times

On January 20, 2021, history was made as Vice President Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman, the first African American, and the first South Asian American to be elected to the position of vice president in the United States.

Now, this accomplished Black woman has been thrust into a position to make history yet again— as the potential 47th President of the United States.

President Joe Biden, who selected Harris to be his running mate in 2020, made the very tough decision on July 21st to abandon his quest to seek reelection as the Democratic Party’s nominee for this year’s presidential election.

From his official account on X, formerly known as Twitter, President Biden posted two significant things—one was his letter announcing his intention to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, and the other was a post officially endorsing Kamala Harris, 59, for president. resident Biden’s post officially endorsing Vice President Harris read:

“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

Vice President Harris shared the following sentiments after receiving the endorsement from President Biden and announcing her plans to secure the Democratic nomination for president:

“From being with him in the Oval Office to the Situation Room — and seeing him on the global stage with world leaders — I am a firsthand witness: President Joe Biden fights for the American people, and I am deeply grateful for his service to our nation…The qualities I cherish most about Joe — his honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big heart and his deep love of our country — are the qualities he’s exemplified every day as President. And let me be very clear: Joe is not done. Far from it. He knows there is still more work to do, and our nation will continue to praise his bold and visionary leadership as President. I am grateful for Joe every day, and I’m honored to have his support in this race.”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama offered a statement endorsing Vice President Harris as the presumptive nominee, stating:

“Earlier this week, we got a chance to catch up with a friend who we’ve known for more than 20 years. She’d had a pretty busy couple of days, to say the least. But we couldn’t be more excited for her — or more thrilled to endorse Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. We agree with President Biden — choosing Kamala was one of the best decisions he’s made. She has the resume to prove it: As a prosecutor, she defended the Constitution and fought for folks who deserve a fair shake. As California’s Attorney General, she worked hard to ensure everyone was treated fairly, no matter who they are or who they love. As a Senator, she was one of the strongest voices holding the Trump administration accountable. And, as Vice President, she helped lead the charge on expanding the Afford- able Care Act, combating climate change, fighting for reproductive freedom, equality, and the rule of law. But Kamala has more than a resume. She has the vision, the character, and the strength that this critical moment demands. There is no doubt in our mind that Kamala Harris has exactly what it takes to win this election and deliver for the American people. At a time when the stakes have never been higher, she gives us all reason to hope. We know over the next few months, Kamala will continue to make her case directly to the American people — Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. As she does, she will have our full support — and we look forward to watching her unite our party and our country around a vision for a brighter, fairer, more prosperous future. We’re going to do everything we can to elect Kamala Harris the next President of the United States. And we hope you’ll join us .”

KAMALA HARRIS: WHO IS SHE?

Vice President Kamala Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, CA, to Donald J. Harris, a Jamaican professor at Stanford University, and Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian biologist and cancer researcher. In 1966, her family moved to Illinois, but eventually moved back to California in 1970. Harris matriculated to the historic Howard University and studied political science and economics. While at Howard, she interned as a mailroom clerk for California senator Alan Cranston, chaired the economics society, led the debate team, and joined the first Black Greek-lettered sorority in the United States—Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Harris went on to graduate, earning her B.A. in political science and economics from Howard in 1986.

Harris continued her post-secondary education, earning her Juris Doctor law degree from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly the University of California, Hastings College of the Law) in 1989 through its Legal Education Opportunity Program. While there, she served as president of the Black Law Students Association. Harris passed the California Bar Exam in 1990 and began practicing law.

Harris began work as a deputy district attorney in Oakland in 1990, and continued through 1998, earning a reputation for prosecuting tough homicide, burglary, robbery, sexual assault, and other criminal cases. Due to her success as a prosecutor, Harris was recruited to work in San Francisco as an assistant district attorney in 1998. She continued to do well in her role as a tough prosecutor which prompted people to encourage her to run for district attorney.

In 2004, Harris won her race (56%), and made history by be-coming the first person of color elected as the district attorney of San Francisco.

In 2010, Harris ran and was elected attorney general of the state of California, again making history by becoming the first female and the first African American to be elected to the position.

In 2012, Harris delivered a memorable speech at the Democratic National Convention, raising her national profile, and married her husband, attorney Douglas Emhoff, in 2014. She was eventually encouraged and recruited to run for retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer’s seat in California, and easily won the 2016 election, making history yet again, by becoming only the second African American woman and the first Indian American ever to serve in the Senate.

Harris served on both the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Judiciary Committee, among other assignments, until she was selected to serve as vice president by President Biden.

KAMALA HARRIS: RECORD AS VICE PRESIDENT

The role of the Vice President of the United States is extremely important to the overall function of the American government. The Vice President formulates policies. The Vice President manages daily operations. The Vice President plans how all resources are to be effectively utilized. The Vice President is the President of the Senate. The Vice President serves as the Acting President when the President is unable to do so.

Vice President Harris is one of only three Vice Presidents in American history who have actually served as Acting President.

In looking at Vice President Harris’ record while serving beside President Biden, here are some of the things she touts under her resume since becoming vice president:

Worked alongside President Biden to achieve historic representation of women and people of color among nominees at all levels of the federal government

KAMALA HARRIS: NEXT STEPS

For many, President Biden’s decision came as a huge surprise, while others had been urging President Biden to step aside after his highly-talked-about debate performance against former president Trump who is also running again for re-election as the Republican nominee.

Once President Biden’s decision was announced, Vice President Harris quickly accepted the endorsement, which came with an immediate flurry of support, excitement, donations, and a new- found energy that was sorely lacking in this 2024 presidential race.

Some call it a “game-changer”, but the potential Democratic nomination of Vice President Harris as the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee has gotten the entire country energized—whether people are in support of her or not.

In one full week, Vice President

Harris’ campaign raised $200 million after being endorsed by President Biden. The campaign also announced that most of the donations she received in that full week (66%) came from first-time contributors during this 2024 election cycle and that over 170,000 volunteers have signed up to help her campaign with any number of Get-Out-The-Vote (G.O.T.V.) efforts.

Polling data since being endorsed by President Biden has shown that Vice President Harris’ favorability among American voters rose significantly in that full week, while former president Trump’s favorability has fallen, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll that was conducted from July 26th to July 27th and released on July 28th.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll sur- vey was conducted using KnowledgePanel—the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult U.S. population— and was based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,200 adults age 18 or older with oversamples among Black and Hispanic respondents.

The results of the ABC News/ Ipsos poll showed the following interesting details:

• A large majority (86%) of Democrats and half (52%) of Americans say that Harris should be the Democratic nominee for president, with 14% of Democrats saying the party should select a different nominee.
• Nine in ten (88%) Democrats are enthusiastic (63% very and 25% somewhat) about Harris becoming the Democratic nominee. In comparison, 82% of Republicans say they are enthusiastic about Trump being the Republican nominee.
• Two-thirds (66%) of Americans report they are “absolutely certain to vote” in the upcoming presidential election, including 76% of Democrats and 78% of Republicans. This is up from 70% among Democrats and roughly unchanged among Republicans (75%) from the last ABC News/Ipsos poll produced before Biden left the race.

Things are sure to heat up as Election Day is less than 100 days away—November 5, 2024.

America could very well be on the brink of having its second Black president and first female president in its 248-year history, which is truly historic, indeed.

Jeffrey L. Boney is the Associate Editor of The Forward Times in Houston, TX. He is the founder and CEO of the Texas Business Alliance, a nonprofit organization with a mission to equip minority and women-owned businesses to be qualified suppliers. https://www. jeffreylboney.com/