Why Joe Biden Should Choose Kamala Harris As His VP

A presidential candidate’s VP choice can make or break their entire campaign. The electorate’s reaction to the selection, the VP’s record and past, and the opportunities for the opponent to attack the eventual selection are vital in determining who wins the presidency come election day. As we all know by now, this year’s upcoming election is unlike any we’ve ever had in this country. November 3rd will serve as a referendum as America decides the direction it wants to continue heading, by either selecting Joe Biden or Donald Trump to hold office for the next four years. To add to the magnitude of this election, we are in the midst of a global pandemic and massive civil rights movement, all while the economy slowly collapses and the United States becomes an international laughing stock. In this post, I’m going to make the case for why I believe Joe Biden should choose Kamala Harris as his VP because of her policy proposals, somewhat progressive ideals, and qualifications met which were set by the Biden campaign.

I need to start by stating I will be voting for Joe Biden regardless of who he selects as his VP, as the shortlist is filled with extremely qualified, intelligent, and determined women. Whether it ends up being Kamala Harris, Susan Rice, Elizabeth Warren, Karen Bass, or any of the other women being considered for the position, I’m sure that the Biden campaign is confident in their eventual selection, and that whoever is chosen has been properly vetted for the job. Joe Biden has already committed to selecting a woman as his running mate, and has received pressure to select a woman of color more recently given the events in the country. Kamala Harris, who for a short time led in polls against her competitors in the Democratic primary race, meets all of the qualifications set by the Biden campaign.

Representation is important. We’ve never had a black woman selected as a vice presidential running mate in this country, which is completely overdue. Kamala Harris has experience running a campaign on a national level, on the debate stage, and as a Senator. While many of the other candidates being considered meet some of these qualifications, none meet all so clearly as Harris does. Harris is also young at only 55 years old, which creates a path in which she could be the first woman president in either 4 or 8 years depending on Joe Biden’s competency and health if he were to be elected.

While not as progressive as some of her colleagues such as Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren (who would be my ideal VP selections), Harris is right about many issues. She co-signed Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-For-All bill, supports the Green New Deal, supports criminal justice reform, and falls on the right side of many more pressing issues going into this election, especially when compared to her counterpart Mike Pence, who is in favor of conversion therapy and criminalizing a woman’s right to choose. Substantively, Harris is more in-line with the majority of the Democratic electorate’s policy prescriptions than the other progressive candidates who could have been selected as the nominee. She and Biden are very ideologically aligned, and Biden selecting her as a running mate doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch, as the betting markets are confident that Harris will soon be announced as Biden’s vice presidential selection.

As the Democratic National Convention nears, the anticipation for who Biden will select as his vice president is increasing rapidly. While my ideal pick for the position would be Elizabeth Warren, I think that Joe Biden should choose Kamala Harris given the current political landscape and circumstances. I’m sure we will find out very soon, and hopefully the selection is favored both now and come election time in November. Who do you think Biden will choose? Let me know. Thanks for reading.