Biden praises running mate Kamala Harris in nomination acceptance speech

Democratic Party's presidential nominee Joe Biden praised his Indian-American running mate Kamala Harris during his nomination acceptance speech, describing the California senator as a "powerful voice" in the US and said her "story is the American story."

Harris, 55, scripted history in US politics as she became the first Indian-American and Black woman to get a major party's vice presidential nomination on the third day of the virtual Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.

"It will be the work of the next president to restore the promise of America to everyone. And I am not going to have to do it alone. I will have a great vice president at my side," Bide, 77, said in his acceptance speech on Thursday.

 

He touted Harris' diverse family, her parents are Jamaican and Indian, heritage and her perseverance to "overcome every obstacle she has ever faced."

"Her story is the American story. She knows about all of the obstacles thrown in the way of so many in our country. Women, Black women, Black Americans, South Asian Americans, immigrants. The left out and the left behind. She has overcome every obstacle she has ever faced," he said.

"No one has been tougher on big banks and the gun lobby. No one has been tougher on calling out the current administration for its extremism, its failure to follow the law, it's failure to simply tell the truth. Kamala and I both draw from our families. That is where we get our strength. For Kamala, it is Doug, and their families. For me, it is Jill, and ours," Biden said.

Introducing herself as the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants at the virtual convention on Wednesday, Harris fondly remembered her Chennai-born mother who she said taught her two daughters to "be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people" and to believe that "the fight for justice is a shared responsibility.