Kamala Harris officially endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Sunday morning, announcing in a video that she had known him for a long time, and “one of the things that we need right now is we need a leader who really does care about the people, and who can therefore unify the people — and I believe Joe can do that.” The California senator, whose own presidential campaign ended in December after she failed to gain ground in polls, said that Biden has “lived his life with great dignity” and is “a public servant who has always worked for the best of who we are as a nation.”
On Saturday, Biden seemed to leak the upcoming news while speaking at a rally in St. Louis when he included “Kamala’s folks” while thanking his other formal rivals who have now endorsed him — Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O’Rourke. The endorsement was also foreshadowed back in January. On Sunday, Harris tweeted out her endorsement and announced that she would join Biden on the trail on Monday night in Detroit — Michigan’s primary is on Tuesday, and the race for the Democratic nomination is now down to just Biden and Bernie Sanders.
Harris, a former prosecutor, district attorney, and state attorney general, memorably attacked Biden at a debate last June over his work with segregationist Democrats and opposition to integrating public schools by busing children in — noting that she was once one of the kids on those buses. Biden appeared flustered in his response to the clearly planned, well-executed attack. Harris, who was friends with Biden’s son Beau, who died of a brain tumor in 2015 — also said that she didn’t think that Biden was a racist.
The moment and the former vice-president’s spotty civil rights record have not seemed to have any impact on the candidate’s performance with black voters across numerous states thus far.
Now that Elizabeth Warren has dropped out, no viable women candidates remain in the Democratic race, which Harris lamented on Sunday. The Senate Democrat is also one of the people Biden may be considering as a potential running mate.
