Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris are vowing to move on up. The pair made their first joint appearance as running mates in Delaware on Wednesday, arriving onstage in masks to Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up.” Biden and Harris maintained social-distancing during the event as each delivered remarks about the other. “The choice we make this November is going to decide the future of America for a very, very long time,” Biden said at the podium. “I have no doubt that I picked the right person to join me as the next vice president of the United States of America, and that’s Senator Kamala Harris.”
He went on to say, “Kamala knows how to govern. She knows how to make the hard calls. She is ready to do this job on day one.” Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American woman on a major political party’s ticket, took the stage to thank Biden for his nomination. “Joe, I’m so proud to stand with you,” she said. “And I do so mindful of all the heroic and ambitious women before me whose sacrifice, determination, and resilience makes my presence here today even possible.”
Ahead, a few highlights from their remarks, including Harris’s close connection with Biden’s late son Beau and their plans for taking on Trump and COVID-19.
Biden on Harris’ credentials:
“As attorney general of the largest state in the country, Kamala took on the big banks over mortgage fraud and won; took on Big Oil who wanted to pollute without consequences. She was a pioneer in marriage equality and tackled the gun lobby. We’ve all watched her in the United States Senate go toe-to-toe with Trump officials trying to hide the truth, asking the tough questions that needed to be asked and not stopping until she got an answer.
As a member of the intelligence committee and the judiciary committee, she’s been in the middle of the most critical national security challenges our country faces, well aware of all the threats to this nation and ready to respond to them. As a child of immigrants, she knows personally how immigrant families enrich our 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.”
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Biden on the historical significance of Harris’ nomination:
“This morning, all across the nation, little girls woke up—especially little Black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities. But today—today, just maybe, they are seeing themselves for the first time in a new way, as the stuff of presidents and vice presidents.”
Biden on Trump’s negative reaction to Harris:
“You all knew it was coming. You could’ve set your watches to it. Donald Trump has already started his attacks, calling Kamala ‘nasty.’ Whining about how she is ‘mean’ to his appointees. It’s no surprise, because whining is what Donald Trump does best, better than any president in American history. Is anyone surprised Donald Trump has a problem with a strong woman or strong women across the board?
Kamala Harris has had your back and now we have to have her back. She’s gonna stand with me in this campaign, and all of us are gonna stand up for her. On January 20th, 2021, we’re all going to watch Senator Harris raise her right hand and swear the oath of office as the first woman ever to serve in the second highest office in America…and then we’re going to get to work fixing the mess that President Trump and Vice President Pence have created both at home and abroad through four years of mismanagement and coddling of terrorists and thugs around the world.”
Biden on tackling COVID-19:
“The Joe Biden and Kamala Harris administration will have a comprehensive plan to meet the challenge of COVID-19 and turn the corner on this pandemic, masking, clear science-based guidance, dramatically scaling up testing, getting states and local governments the resources they need to open the schools and businesses safely. We can do this.”
Biden on his own Vice Presidential past:
“When I agreed to serve as President Obama’s running mate, he asked me a number of questions that I asked Kamala. …He asked what I wanted, most importantly? I told him I wanted to be the last person in the room before he made important decisions. That is what I asked Kamala. I asked her to be the last voice in the room, to always tell me the truth, which she will, to challenge my assumptions if she disagrees, to ask the hard questions.”
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Biden on his and Harris’ shared vision:
“The question is, for all Americans to answer, who are we as a nation? What do we stand for? And, most importantly, what do we want to be? The future of this country is limited only by the barriers we place on our own imaginations. Because there’s nothing that Americans cannot achieve when we put our minds to it, and we do it together. One of the reasons I chose Kamala is because we both believe that we can define America simply in one word: possibilities.”
Harris on Trump’s lack of leadership during a crisis:
“America is crying out for leadership. Yet we have a president who cares more about himself than the people who elected him. A president who is making every challenge we face even more difficult to solve.”
“This virus has impacted almost every country, but there’s a reason it has hit America worse than any other advanced nation. It’s because of Trump’s failure to take it seriously from the start. His refusal to get testing up and running, his flip-flopping on social distancing and wearing masks. His delusional belief that he knows better than the experts. All of that is reason and the reason that an American dies of COVID-19 every 80 seconds.”
“As somebody who has presented my fair share of arguments in court, the case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut.”
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Harris on her close relationship with Beau Biden:
“Ever since I received Joe’s call, I have been thinking about the first Biden I really came to know. And that of course is Joe’s beloved son Beau. …And let me just tell you about Beau Biden. I learned quickly that Beau was the kind of guy who inspired people to be a better version of themselves. He really was the best of us. And when I would ask him, ‘Where did you get that? Where did this come from?’ He’d always talk about his dad. And I will tell you the love that they shared was incredible to watch. It was the most beautiful display of the love between a father and a son.
That is how I came to know Joe. He’s someone whose first response when things get tough is never to think about himself, but to care for everyone else. He’s someone who never asks, why is this happening to me? And instead asks, what can I do to make life better for you? His empathy, his compassion, his sense of duty to care for others, is why I am so proud to be on this ticket.”
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Harris on her upbringing as a daughter of immigrants:
“My mother and father, they came from opposite sides of the world to arrive in America: One from India and the other from Jamaica in search of a world-class education. But what brought them together was the civil rights movement of the 1960s. And that’s how they met as students in the streets of Oakland marching and shouting for this thing called justice in a struggle that continues today. And I was part of it. My mother, Shyamala, raised my sister Maya and me to believe it was up to us, and every generation of Americans, to keep on marching.”
Harris on cherishing her ‘Momala’ moniker:
“I’ve had a lot of titles over my career, and certainly vice president will be great. But ‘Momala’ will always be the one that means the most.”
Harris on defeating Trump in 2020:
“We need more than a victory on November 3. We need a mandate that proves that the past few years do not represent who we are or who we aspire to be. Joe likes to say that character is on the ballot. And it’s true.”
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At the end of their respective remarks, Biden and Harris were joined by their mask-clad spouses, Dr. Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff, respectively. According to ABC News, the running mates will participate in a “virtual grassroots” fundraiser later this evening.
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