Sen. Kamala Harris made her first appearance Wednesday as the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, saying she plans as Joseph R. Biden’s running mate to hold President Trump and his allies accountable for their failed leadership and to steer the nation in a better direction.
Ms. Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican-born father and Indian-born mother, said she couldn’t be “prouder” to serve alongside Mr. Biden and said the stakes couldn’t be higher in the November election because of the failed leadership Mr. Trump has shown over the last four years.
“We are reeling from the worst public health crisis in a century. The president’s mismanagement of the pandemic has plunged us into the worst economic crisis since the great depression, and we are experiencing a moral reckoning with racism and systemic injustice that has brought a new coalition of conscience to the streets of our country demanding change,” she said in Delaware after Mr. Biden formally introduced her as his running mate.
“America is crying out for leadership, yet we have a president who cares most about himself than the people who elected him, a president who is making every challenge we face even more difficult to solve,” Ms. Harris said.
Pending formal approval by delegates at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Ms. Harris will become the first woman of color to serve as a vice-presidential nominee on a major party ticket.
Ms. Harris said the good news is that voters have the chance to send a strong message in the November election that it is time for the nation to move in a different direction.
“In just 83 days, We have a chance to choose a better future for our country,” she said.
Ms. Harris also cast Mr. Biden as a trailblazer in his own right when it comes to the fight for civil rights.
“Today he takes his place in the ongoing story of America’s march toward equality and justice as the only, as the only, person who has served alongside the first black president and has chosen the first Black woman as his running mate,” she said.
