Biden, Harris to formally file for Democratic nomination
Washington: Former US vice president Joe Biden and Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris will formally sign the required documents on Friday for receiving the Democratic nomination for president and vice president, the Democratic Party has announced.
On Wednesday, 77-year-old Biden scripted history by selecting Harris, 55, as his running mate in the US presidential election on November 3. Harris, whose father is an African from Jamaica and mother an Indian, is the first-ever Black vice-presidential nominee.
Often called a trailblazer, Harris is also the first-ever African-American and Indian-American to be selected by one of the two major American political parties for the second-highest elected office.
"On Friday, August 14, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will sign required documents for receiving the Democratic nomination for President and Vice President of the United States," the Biden campaign said in a statement on Thursday.
Harris herself was a presidential aspirant until last year before she dropped out of the race because of a lack of popular support.
"It's been great," Biden told reporters on Thursday when asked how was his first day with his running mate.
"We had a great, great day," he added.
Earlier in the day, Biden and Harris participated in two virtual briefings together: one on the COVID-19 public health crisis and one on the economic downturn, during which they were briefed by a range of public health experts and doctors, as well as economists with an array of different specialties and backgrounds.
The briefings included two Indian-Americans -- former US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy in the COVID-19 meeting and Raj Chetty, professor of Economics at Harvard University, in the economic briefing.
During the briefing on COVID-19, Harris said as Biden has been saying since the beginning of the pandemic, it should be the public health professionals who are leading policy in the country to address this health crisis.
