U.S. President Joe Biden said he would hand over power to Vice President Kamala Harris if elected to a second term, but that he would not be able to serve out the full term for health reasons.
Harris, 59, will be the first woman, the first Black American and the first South Asian American to be elected vice president of the United States in 2020.
Biden’s comments about Harris came amid growing calls for him to recuse himself from November’s presidential election after stumbling during a televised debate with Republican rival Donald Trump last month.
Who is Kamala Harris?
Harris was born in Oakland, California. As the daughter of immigrants, she grew up surrounded by a diverse community. She graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
In 2014, she married lawyer Douglas Emhoff.
Harris was elected San Francisco’s district attorney in 2004 and became a national leader in the LGBTQ+ rights movement, establishing the DA’s office’s Environmental Justice Unit and creating a program to give first-time drug offenders the opportunity to earn a high school degree and get a job.
She was elected California’s attorney general in 2010, overseeing the nation’s largest state justice department. She also defended the Affordable Care Act in court and enforced environmental laws.
In 2017, she joined the U.S. Senate, where she pushed legislation to fight hunger, provide rent relief, improve maternal and child health, expand access to capital for small businesses, revitalize America’s infrastructure, and combat the climate crisis.
