Steeped in the moment of glory, Gopalan Balachandran, Sen. Kamala Harris’ maternal uncle, said Saturday that he told his niece a day earlier that she was “going to win” to become the next vice president of the United States.
Democrat Joe Biden defeated incumbent Republican President Donald Trump in the tightly contested presidential elections, according to US media projections.
Harris, 56, of Indian descent, has become the first female vice president-elect of the United States. She will also be the country’s first vice president of Indian origin, first black and first African-American.
Balachandran, based in Delhi, said he was “proud and happy,” describing Harris as a fighter.
“The Biden-Harris win is what we wanted to see. And given the numbers, yesterday I told Kamala that she’s going to win, ”he told PTI when asked if the counting process put him on edge.
Biden, the 77-year-old former vice president, will become the 46th president of the United States, CNN reported, after a victory in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born put him above the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
“This choice is so much more than just Joe Biden or me. It is 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, ”Harris tweeted.
He was born to two immigrant parents: a black father and an Indian mother. Her father, Donald Harris, was from Jamaica, and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist from Chennai.
In an interview with the PTI in August, Balachandran had said that Harris’ nomination as a vice presidential candidate was a “historic moment,” but it came as no surprise to him.
Harris’s maternal uncle had said that she would take many first steps if she won and expressed hope that her high-level position would give Indians in the United States “greater access” to interact with the US administration.
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