The New Leaders of the United States of America
On Saturday, November 7th, 2020, The Associated Press called the US Presidential Elections of 2020, confirming that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had become the President-Elect and the Vice President-Elect respectively of the 2020-2024 upcoming government and a whole new era for the world.
The announcement was made when Pennsylvania finally flipped to Biden’s side, bringing along a massive 20 electoral votes for the new Democratic Party government. The inauguration is expected to be held on January 20th, 2021. When the news came out, Biden’s granddaughter Naomi tweeted a celebratory family picture showing the PE beaming into the camera:
11.07.20 pic.twitter.com/HHVJMmIoAW
— Naomi Biden (@NaomiBiden) November 7, 2020
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., President Elect of the USA
Joe Biden started his career as a law clerk for a Republican firm in Wilmington and supported liberal Republican candidate Russell W. Peterson. When being recruited for the campaign, he registered as an Independent because of his dislike for Nixon, but by 1969, after working as a public defender, when working at a Democrat headed firm, he changed his registration to a Democrat too. Soon after, he left to start his own firm. This is when his political career started.
In 1970, he was elected as member of the New Castle County Council for 2 years in a typically Republican District 4. By 1972, he became the Delaware Senator at just 30 and was sworn in by January 1973 as the sixth-youngest senator in US history. Between 1973 and 2009, he campaigned for presidency in 1987 from June to September but when his past plagiarism mistakes became “an exaggerated shadow” over the campaign, he withdrew.
He ran the race again in 2007 but due to lack of funds and difficulty in raising them, their campaign failed against high-profile candidates like Obama and Hillary Clinton. In January 2008, he placed 5th in the Iowa caucuses and withdrew. However, this campaign improved his stature in the world. Soon after, Barack Obama contacted him for vice presidency, and after some hesitation, he agreed in August 2008. He served as the 47th Vice President from 2009 to 2017 for two terms.
Kamala Devi Harris, Vice President Elect of the USA
Kamala Devi Harris is breaking the glass ceiling on numerous counts including being the first Asian-American (mother), the first African-American (father), and the first woman to be elected as the VP in US history. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan was a Tamil biologist who came to the US for graduate study at UC Berkeley (PhD: 1964). Her father, Donald J. Harris, is a Stanford professor who arrived from British Jamaica for graduate study in economics at the same campus (PhD: 1966).
Kamala Harris started her career in prosecution as Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County, CA after attending UC Hastings, graduating as Juris Doctor in 1989, and being admitted to the California Bar in 1990. She was then recruited by San Francisco DA Hallinan as Assistant DA in 1998. In 2000, she clashed with another assistant, Darrell Salomon, on Proposition 21 to prevent him from prosecuting juvenile defendants in Superior Court. After campaigning against him, she was reassigned with a de facto demotion and quit. She then worked for City Attorney Renne and represented child abuse and neglect cases.
In 2002, Harris ran for the DA office of San Francisco and was elected with 56% of the vote as the first person of colour to win the office. During her tenure from 2004 to 2011, she worked on public safety and efforts towards reform in death penalties, recidivism, re-entry initiatives, and truancy initiatives.
By 2008, the DA had announced that she would be running for Attorney General California. She became the first woman, South Asian-American, and African-American in January 2011 to hold the AG seat in the state’s history. She served till 2017 with re-election in 2014 and focused her efforts on public safety, the environment, criminal justice, and most importantly, LGBTQ rights!
In 2015, Harris began running for the California Junior Senator seat, and was heavily endorsed by the California Democratic Party, Governor Jerry Brown, President Obama, and VP Biden. In 2016, Harris beat her opponent with 60% of the vote with promises to protect immigrants from Trump’s policies. During her time as Senator for California since 2017, she has been appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee and often questioned people on their sexist behaviors, misconducts, transparency issues, and of course LGBTQIA+ issues. Earlier this year in January 2020, Harris tried to convict President Trump on charges of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power through a vote.
On November 7th, Harris and Biden won the presidential elections.
Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their phenomenal win this past weekend!
Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo
