Kamala Harris opened up about her own family during her maiden speech (File)
Washington:
Kamala Harris has said that it would be great to have the title “vice president” to her name after being picked as the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden but “Momala” will always be the one that means the most to her.
On Wednesday the 55-year-old Indian-American Senator weaved her personal story into a broader narrative of why she and Biden should win the race for the White House and form the country’s next administration over President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Harris opened up about her own family during her maiden speech as the presumptive 2020 Democratic vice presidential nominee in Wilmington, Delavare, along with Biden.
“Family is everything to me too. And I cannot wait for America to get to know my husband Doug and our amazing kids, Cole and Ella,” she said Wednesday, referring to her stepchildren.
Harris told Elle magazine for a Mother’s Day edition that Doug Emhoff’s children from his first marriage started calling her “Momala” within 18 months of them dating. Harris married Emhoff, a lawyer, in 2014.
“Whether I’m cheering in the bleachers at a swim meet, or setting up a college room dorm, or helping my goddaughter prepare for her school debate, or building Legos with my godson, or hugging my two baby nieces, or cooking dinner, Sunday dinner, my family means everything to me,” she said.
“I’ve had a lot of titles of my career. And certainly, vice president will be great. But “Momala” will always be the one that means the most,” Harris said.
Biden in his remarks, noted that during her campaign for the primary, Harris often talked about what she referred to as the 3:00 am agenda, about moms and dads awake late at night in their kitchens, worried, scared, uncertain about how they were going to take care of their families, about how they are going to pay the bills, about how they were going to make it, simply make it.
As the child of immigrants, Biden said, Harris knows personally how immigrant families enrich the country, as well as the challenges of what it means to grow up Black and Indian-American in the United States of America.
“Her story is America’s story, different from mine in many particulars, but also not so different in the essentials.
“She has worked hard. She’s never backed down from a challenge, and she has earned each and every of the accolades and achievements that she has gained, many of them often in the face of obstacles that others put in her way, but never quit,” the former US vice president said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
