Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said Sunday that becoming the first woman vice president would change the future of the White House.
During an interview with Norah O’Donnell on “60 Minutes,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee said:
Harris, who is Black and South Asian American, would be the first woman leader in the White House if she and Democratic candidate Joe Biden win the presidential election on Nov. 3. Harris was the first woman and first Black person to become the district attorney of San Francisco and California’s attorney general. She was also the second Black woman to ever serve in the U.S. Senate.
Harris’ decision to run for president ― and Biden’s eventual decision to make her his running mate ― inspired women of color across the country who saw themselves in her.
“You imagine some young person then seeing, ‘Oh, things can be different. I don’t have to conform to whatever I’m, you know, supposed to or relegated to do. I can imagine what can be and be unburdened by what has been,’ you know?” Harris said.
While many progressive leaders and activists criticized Harris during her presidential run for her past as a prosecutor and some of her policy positions, her presidential platform was still much more progressive than Biden’s. O’Donnell asked Harris if she plans to bring the progressive policies she supported as a senator into a Biden administration.
“What I will do, and I promise you this, and this is what Joe wants me to do as part of our deal: I will always share with him my lived experience as it relates to any issue that we confront,” Harris said. “And I promised Joe that I will give him that perspective and always be honest with him.”
When O’Donnell asked if that is “a socialist or progressive perspective,” Harris laughed and said no.
“No, it is the perspective of a woman who grew up a Black child in America, who was also a prosecutor, who also has a mother who arrived here at the age of 19 from India. Who also, you know, likes hip hop,” Harris said. “Like, what do you wanna know?”
Harris said the role she thinks she would play in the White House is “Joe Biden’s partner,” adding that he told her he wants her “to be the first person in the room and the last person in the room.”
In a separate interview that also aired on “60 Minutes” Sunday, Biden explained why Harris would be ready to step into the presidential role should something happen to him.
“Number one: Her values. Number two: She is smart as a devil. Number three: She has a backbone like a ramrod. Number four: She is really principled,” he said. “And number five: She has had significant experience in the largest state in the union, running a Justice Department that’s only second in size to the United States Justice Department. And you know, obviously, I hope that never becomes a question.”