California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ bid for a Senate seat, already supported by Gov. Jerry Brown, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the California Democratic Party, has been endorsed by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Harris – who is Indian on her mother’s side, and Jamaican on her father’s side – looks to make history as the first South Asian American in the Senate, as well as the first black woman in 20 years. Her opponent, fellow Democrat Rep. Loretta Sanchez, would be the Senate’s first Latina.
“Kamala Harris fights for us,” Obama said Tuesday. “And if you send her to the Senate, she’ll be a fearless fighter for the people of California – all the people of California – every single day.”
The prosecutor broke three barriers – first female, first black, and first Asian American – when she took her current post in 2010, for which she also had Obama’s support. She is a longtime Obama ally, having helped raise money for his Illinois Senate bid.
According to the Huffington Post, Harris’ ties to Biden come from her previous work with his son Beau Biden, who was Delaware attorney general before his death.
Harris currently holds a sizable lead over Sanchez in public polls, 39 percent to 24 percent.
