by Windy Goodloe
On January 20, 2021, Kamala Devi Harris was sworn in as vice president of the United States by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She became the first woman, African American, and Asian American vice president. Her first task as vice president was to swear in three new senators — Alex Padilla (her successor in the Senate), Raphael Warnock (Georgia senator) and Jon Ossoff (Georgia senator).
When Harris took office, the 117th Congress’s Senate was divided 50-50. This means that she was often called upon to exercise her power to cast tie-breaking votes between Democrats and Republicans in her role as president of the Senate.
President Joe Biden assigned Harris to work with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras(also known as the Northern Triangle nations) and Mexico to address immigration on March 24, 2021. This effort was called the Root Causes Strategy (RCS).Although many news sources have called Harris a “border czar,” she rejected the title. In June 2021, she visited Guatemala and Mexico. While in Guatemala, Harris stated, “I want to be clear to folks in the region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come.” As a result of her work in Central America, task forces to address corruption, human trafficking, women’s empowerment, and investment in housing and businesses were formed (Wikipedia).
In February 2022, Harris visited Germany and Poland to rally support for arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia. In November 2023, Harris pledged that the Biden administration would place no conditions on US aid to Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. She did also criticize Israel’s actions during the Israel-Hamas war in March of 2024.
When Biden ended his campaign for re-election on July 21, 2024, he endorsed Harris for president. In the first 24 hours of her candidacy, her campaign raised $81million. Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president on August 22, 2024, which was the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention.
About Biden and Harris’s relationship, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, Biden “insists she be in every core decision-making meeting. She weighs in during those meetings, often providing unique perspectives.”
Where does Harris stand on the big issues? She supports national abortion protections. She also supports LGBTQ+ rights and limited legislation to address climate change. She supports an earned pathway to citizenship and increased border security. Harris opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and supports continued unconditional military aid to Israel during the Israel-Hamas war. She opposes an arms embargo on Israel. She supports a populist economic agenda(Wikipedia).
Vice President Kamala Harris is also a wife, stepmom, aunt, daughter, and sister. With ancestral wisdom and intelligence she may be our next president. The only way this can happen is if everyone exercises their right to vote. This election is one of the most critical events that will ever take place in our lifetimes. We know what the alternative is, and if we don’t want a repeat of that, we must make sure that our voices are heard via the ballot box.
