Trailblazer Kamala Harris: America's first woman vice president

WASHINGTON, United States, January 21 ------ Kamala Harris smashed through one of America's highest glass ceilings Wednesday, becoming the first woman, first Black American and first person of Asian heritage to be appointed vice president, blazing a trail in the most diverse White House ever. As running mate to now-President Joe Biden, she helped bring Donald Trump's turbulent rule to an end, assailing him for his chaotic bungling of the Covid-19 pandemic, last year's unrest over racial injustices and his crackdown on immigration.

Harris, 56, enters the post having already forged a unique path, as California's first Black attorney general and the first woman of South Asian heritage elected to the US Senate. "A new chapter begins today," Harris tweeted Wednesday. "Let's get to work." As vice president, Harris will be a heartbeat away from leading the United States. With Biden, 78, expected to serve only a single term, Harris would be favored to win the Democratic nomination in 2024, giving her a shot at more history-making -- as America's first female president.

"While I may be the first woman in this office, I won't be the last," Harris said in a November 7 speech, her first after US networks projected Biden and Harris as the winners over Trump and former vice president Mike Pence. Trump bitterly contested the results, peddling the lie that the Democrats only won due to massive election fraud.

During the campaign he routinely attacked Harris, branding her a "monster" after her October debate with Pence. When asked about it, Harris curtly dismissed the president: "I don't comment on his childish remarks." While Harris pushed back fiercely during the campaign, in the past two months she rose above the fray, pivoting to plans she and Biden are unveiling to help struggling families and fix a reeling economy. Harris wrote on Twitter that she and Biden would set America on a "new path" and "bring the American people back together."

Source: philstar.com