Updated: November 7, 2020 11:19:45 pm
Sen. Kamala Harris, Democratic vice presidential candidate, right, and her husband Douglas Emhoff take the stage during the Democratic National Convention at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, the United States, August 19, 2020 (Bloomberg).
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is the first in several ways: the first woman, the first black person, and the first Native American to hold that position. Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, will also make history. He will be the first man and the first Jewish person to serve as the spouse of a president or vice president. Harris is a Baptist.
And everyone from political strategists to racial justice activists is waiting to see whether those former will be simple token victories or the beginning of a radical shift in race and gender relations and the launch of an enduring Democratic coalition.
The symbolism alone is important. Strategists say that black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party. They vote in large numbers, assist staff in their volunteer efforts, and boost victories in key races, but they have not always been well represented among their candidates or in their political decisions. Follow Live Updates of 2020 US Election Results
In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” last month, Harris promised that he would bring his diverse perspective to the Biden administration.
“What I will do, and I promise you this, and this is what Joe wants me to do, this was part of our deal, I will always share with him my lived experience in regards to whatever problems we face,” he said. said. “And I promised Joe that I will give him that perspective and that I will always be honest with him.”
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That experience includes being the daughter of an Indian immigrant and a Jamaican-born father. She was raised biracial and interfaith. She is a Christian, but she also attended Hindu temples with her mother.
That side of Harris’s record could help boost Asian-American voters, the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the United States and one that both Democrats and Republicans have tried to woo.
That experience also means being the first historically black college graduate to hold such a high position. Harris attended Howard University in Washington and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest black sorority in the country. Members have attended their events and been active donors, many of whom have given $ 19.08 to mark the year the group was founded.
Harris, 56, has not shied away from using his experience as a touchstone for outreach. He attended virtual campaign events with South Asian celebrities including actress Mindy Kaling, comedian Aasif Mandvi, and former United States attorney and Trump antagonist Preet Bharara.
And he had a starring role in Biden’s campaign ads targeting black and Asian-American voters, including one that featured words in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tamil, Hindi and Filipino.
Cheryl Hori, founder of the Democratic consultancy Pacific Campaign House, said Harris, as the highest-ranking Asian-American elected in American history, has a great opportunity to help Democrats rethink their approach to a group of politically influential voters who have often been overlooked. .
“This will be historic for Asian Americans, period,” he said. “This is a situation where all the boats go up. Even if you are not Indian-American, this is a great achievement. “
But Hori said those voters come from very different backgrounds and don’t always see their interests linked, noting that immigrants from Pakistan and India, for example, don’t see themselves as the target audience for ads targeting Asian Americans. . She said Harris could help outreach to Asian voters in places like Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin and Michigan.
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Harris’s husband will also have the opportunity to set an example. Emhoff could be a role model for boys and men or take an active role in promoting key issues.
Ronald F. Levant, co-author of “The Tough Standard,” said Emhoff has already shown a different path for men by stepping back from his own career as a successful corporate attorney to support his wife. While the vice president’s wife often doesn’t get the same kind of attention as the first lady, Levant said Emhoff will attract more attention simply because he is the first man to hold the position.
That could give him a chance to address some of the problems young boys face, Levant said, especially if he works with President-elect Joe Biden, who also modeled a very different form of masculinity than his opponent, President Donald Trump, during the elections. .
“This was an election in which masculinity was very present,” Levant said.
And in case all those first few things weren’t enough, Emhoff, also 56, has also drawn attention because of his religion, with Jewish magazine Forward calling him “our handsome Jewish daddy” and the Times of Israel calling him the ” Democrats. ” ‘the newest Jewish star.’ Some Jews have even noted that their children’s nickname for their stepmother, ‘Momala’, is close to the Yiddish word ‘mamele’, which means ‘little mother’.
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