Kamala Harris, a woman of colour and Indian descent, set to become a vice president candidate, is the woman of the hour. US presidential candidate for the Democratic party Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated Harris as his vice-presidential running mate, making history by choosing a mixed-race person to be vice president.
However, President Donald Trump was quick to dismiss Biden’s choice by saying that she was “disrespectful” in her attacks on the presidential nominee during the Democratic primary. His campaign is yet to respond to Harris being picked for the vice-presidential candidate.
Maya and Meena, Kamala Harris’ sister and daughter, have taken to social media to congratulate her and shared some memories they have had with her.
Harris, who has also been dubbed the “female Barack Obama”, is not, however, the first woman to seize vice president candidacy. She is, in fact, the third woman to be chosen as vice-president nominee.
Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman to be nominated to be vice president by Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale in 1984. It was a historic moment when Ferraro was nominated.
Ferraro was born in Newburgh, New York in 1935 in the middle of the Great Depression. Growing up on limited means, she taught second grade before attending Fordham law school at night. But on graduation, Ferraro realised, that a lot of companies were still hesitant to hire a woman. She was a stay-at-home mom till her cousin, who was District Attorney for Queens, hired her as a prosecutor. When she wasn’t handling child abuse, rape and domestic violence cases, she was involved in local Democratic politics and talking to voters.
In 1978, she ran for Congress, to represent the neighbourhood in Queens, and won.
Following her nomination, Ferraro’s popularity skyrocketed. However, she and Mondale suffered one of the worst defeats in presidential election history, but Ferraro rose rapidly in the party hierarchy. She was elected to be the Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus for 1981-1983 and again for 1983-1985, which entitled her to a seat on the influential Steering and Policy Committee.
Ferraro also served on the House Budget Committee, Public Works and Transport Committee and the Post Office and Civil Service Committee. She also served as an ambassador for UN Human Rights Commission, and in 2008, she served in the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.
In 2008, Sarah Palin, a former journalist, was chosen as the first woman running mate by the Republican party, whose presidential nominee was John McCain.
Palin, who is the second woman ever to be nominated for vice president candidacy, congratulated Harris on Twitter, and in a series of tweets, gave her “lessons learned” to make it to the end of the race, including fighting to retain her team as her staff. She is said to have had disagreements with McCain’s staff.
Palin was formerly Senator for Alaska before she went head-to-head with McCain on Republican primaries and was nominated to be vice president. Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla from October 1996 to October 2002. Coming from a conservative family, Palin began her political career after being elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992.
Palin, who is also a former beauty queen—winner of Miss Wasilla pageant—was also an avid hunter. She resigned from the post of Governor of Alaska in 2009 and went on to be a contributor at Fox News and launching her news channel—Sarah Palin Channel in 2014. After retiring from her political career, Palin has vocally supported Obama’s presidency and now, heartily supports Harris and asked her on Twitter not to forget the women who came before her.
