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‘I am first, but will not be the last in office,’ says Harris in first nation address
“Biden is a healer,” she also said in her first address to the nation since she and Biden were declared the winners of the presidential election.
Kamala Harris who made history by getting elected as the first female vice president of the United States declared her victory as the beginning for women in her maiden speech on Saturday.
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” Harris said in her acceptance speech at a drive-in rally in Delaware.
“Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibility,” she said.
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The remarks were some of the most direct she has delivered about her history-making role as Biden’s running mate.
She opened her speech with late Georgia Congressman John Lewis, a Civil Rights icon remarks and said, “Democracy is not a state but an act.” Voters have ‘ushered in a new day for America,’ by choosing Joe Biden as the next President of America, she also said.
“You chose hope, unity, decency, science, and, yes, truth. You chose Joe Biden as the next president of the United States of America,” she also said. He is a “healer” and a “uniter,” Harris added.
Harris also praised Joe Biden for having “the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exist in our country” by selecting a woman as his running mate.
Harris also remembered her mother during the speech and said, “When she came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn’t quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible.”
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“I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black women. Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation’s history who have paved the way for this moment tonight,” she said in a tribute.
Harris further concluded her speech by promising to be the vice president that Biden was to former President Barack Obama.
“No matter who you voted for, I will strive to be the vice president that Joe was to President Obama — loyal, honest, and prepared, waking up every day thinking of you and your families. Because now is when the real work begins,” she said.
“America is ready. And so are Joe and I,” she also said while welcoming Biden at the stage.
A US senator from California, Harris has a track record of shattering glass ceilings. She served as San Francisco’s first female district attorney and was California’s first woman of color to be elected attorney general.
Her background in criminal justice could help a Biden administration tackle the issues of racial equality and policing after the country was swept by protests this year. She is expected to be a top adviser on judicial nominations.
