US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday named Kamala Harris as his running mate, making the California senator the first Black and South Asian American woman to run on a major political party's presidential ticket. Once a rival for the top job, Harris had long been considered the front-runner for the position. Biden will face President Donald Trump in the US election which is scheduled to take place on Nov. 3. Vice President Mike Pence remains the Republican incumbent's running mate. Making the formal announcement about his running mate in a tweet, Biden said: "I have the great honor to announce that I've picked @HomeHome (Kamala Harris) — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country's finest public servants — as my running mate. "Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I'm proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign." Harris later tweeted saying: @JoeBiden can unify the American people because he's spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he'll build an America that lives up to our ideals. I'm honored to join him as our party's nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief." The senator formed a close relationship with Biden's late son, Beau, when he served as the Delaware attorney general while Harris was attorney general of California. In her 2019 memoir, Harris called Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015, an "incredible friend and colleague," and wrote that she sometimes spoke with the younger Biden as many as multiple times a day in difficult moments. Harris, aged 55, was born in Oakland, California to two immigrant parents: an Indian-born mother and Jamaican-born father. She went on to attend Howard University, one of the nation's preeminent historically black colleges and universities. She has described her time there as among the most formative experiences of her life. — Agencies
