Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
Credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
Kamala Harris was out exercising in a park in Delaware when the race was called. She stopped and, slightly out of breath, telephoned Joe Biden to say: "We did it Joe!"
Ms Harris, 56, posted a video of herself on Twitter excitedly telling Mr Biden: "We did it. We did it Joe. You’re going to be the next president of the United States."
It meant Ms Harris crashed through one of the world’s highest glass ceilings to be elected America’s first woman vice president.
She will also be the first black person, and first Asian-American, to win the second highest office.
Ms Harris said: "This election is about so much more than Joe Biden or me. It’s about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it.
"We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started."
A poster of Kamala Harris is displayed on a temple, at her ancestral village of Thulasendrapuram in India's Tamil Nadu state
Credit: ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images
Mr Biden’s running mate came into Tuesday’s election already a trailblazer, having been California’s first black attorney general.
By winning the vice presidency, she will be a heartbeat away from leading the United States and poised for the ultimate prize in a future election.
She would be favourite to win the Democratic presidential nomination four years from now if Mr Biden, 77, does not seek a second term.
Since being selected as running mate in August, Ms Harris has relentlessly made the case against Donald Trump over his handling of the pandemic, race issues, the economy and immigration.
Ms Harris, 56, was born to immigrants to the United States — her father from Jamaica, her mother from India — and she has described how their lives, and her own, embodied the American dream.
She graduated from the historically black Howard University in Washington and became a prosecutor, San Francisco’s district attorney, and then California attorney general in 2010.
In 2016 she launched a successful Senate campaign, becoming just the second black female senator ever. During her time as a California attorney general she forged a friendship with Mr Biden’s son Beau, who held the same position in the state of Delaware, and died of cancer at the age of 46 in 2015.
After selecting Ms Harris, Mr Biden said: "I know how much Beau respected Kamala and her work, and that mattered a lot to me, to be honest with you, as I made this decision."
Ms Harris came to national attention in 2017 with her razor-sharp questioning of Jeff Sessions, the then attorney general, during a Senate hearing.
At one point Mr Sessions said: "I’m not able to be rushed this fast! It makes me nervous."
Ms Harris ran for the Democratic nomination herself in 2020 and clashed with Mr Biden during the first primary debate.
Senator Kamala Harris hit the campaign trail hard
Credit: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg
She attacked Mr Biden over his stance on 1970s busing programmes that forced integration of segregated schools. During her only debate against vice president Mike Pence, Ms Harris raised her hand as he tried to interrupt her.
"Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking. I’m speaking," she said, silencing Mr Pence.
On the campaign trail she has proved an asset to Mr Biden’s campaign, including by raising large amounts of money. Ms Harris’s husband, lawyer Doug Emhoff, also became a successful campaign speaker.
The vice president-elect has two stepchildren, Mr Emhoff’s children from a previous marriage, and they call her "Momala".
Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist, said: "Kamala Harris always made the most sense as a running mate for Joe Biden because she had the ability to help him unify the Democratic coalition across racial and generational lines and was able to spike base enthusiasm."
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