It’s a very special moment when something that you expected to happen actually does and your feelings are still so overwhelming. That’s exactly what happened when I saw Joe Biden’s tweet that he has selected Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., as his running mate.
Though Harris wasn’t my candidate of choice throughout the primary, from the moment I watched her announce her candidacy in Oakland, Calif., I felt connected to her. Her energy and passion draw you in and you could tell a lot from the audience she drew that day as well as during the primary season.
Harris’ supporters reflect the diversity of the Democratic Party. She brings together young and old, Black and White and Latino, progressive and moderate. Representation matters and Harris represents our voter base and our ideals.
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The case for Harris has been made previously. From her experience as San Francisco district attorney to California’s attorney general to the junior senator, her resume is deep, especially at just 55 years old.
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But there’s so much more that’s meaningful about her selection. By selecting Harris, Biden is signaling to voters that he has their best interests at heart and that he has been listening to them. Reading a room has always been a great skill of Biden’s and he absolutely got it right with this pick.
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For too long Democrats have been depending on the votes of Blacks to carry them across the finish line. From recent wins in Georgia, Alabama, Kansas and beyond, Democrats don’t win without Black votes. They especially don’t win without Black women, who are their most loyal voting bloc. Picking a Black woman for the ticket speaks to the fact that representation matters, and that Biden has been listening to his base this past year.
It’s not just Blacks Biden has been listening to, but also young voters. Harris may not have garnered enough support to win the nomination, but she built a strong coalition of multicultural Gen Z and millennial support. Her passion and energy appealed from the get-go as well as her innovative ideas for reform in criminal justice, climate and health care. In this way, Biden picking Harris represents a passing of the baton that the Democratic Party very much needs.
Harris may not have garnered enough support to win the nomination, but she built a strong coalition of multicultural Gen Z and millennial support.
Biden has been performing better with women than any previous Democratic nominee and doing especially well with college-educated women. This is another key demographic that Harris did very well with during the primary. She garnered a lot of support from this group, essentially splitting them with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and college-educated white women consistently show up at the polls.
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And though not traditional Democratic supporters, there are plenty of suburban women who usually vote Republican but have been so turned off by President Trump that they will be plenty happy to support a Biden-Harris ticket.
There is more to say and no doubt we will hear more over the next few months before the election. But for now, I’m going to enjoy the feelings that come with knowing something is coming and it is being even better than expected.