Kamala Harris could potentially make history by becoming the first woman to hold the title of President of the United States after President Joe Biden announced his decision to drop his reelection campaign on July 21.
In order to secure the nomination, Harris needs to secure a majority of the nearly 4,000 Democratic delegates sent by each state to the Democratic National Convention next month.
Some states’ delegates have already held meetings in the last 24 hours to decide whether they would commit to Harris. As of noon on Monday, July 22, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Louisiana and New Hampshire have committed their Democratic delegates to Harris, giving her 531 of the 1,969 delegates she needs to get the party’s nomination.
Some polls putting Harris and former President Donald Trump head to head have been released in the hours since Biden’s announcement on Sunday. One poll from The New York Times and Sienna College looked at voters in two swing states: Pennsylvania and Virginia. Voters in Pennsylvania, which is currently governed by Democrat Josh Shapiro, preferred Trump by a margin of around one percent (48% versus 47%). Meanwhile in Virginia, which is governed by Republican Glenn Youngkin, polls showed Harris prevailing by five percentage points (49% versus 44%).
Kamala Harris and the LGBTQ+ community
If she secures the nomination, Harris could become the most pro-LGBTQ+ president in American history thus far.
Harris hails from the Golden State — specifically she grew up in Berkeley, California, and the surrounding East San Francisco Bay Area, known for its acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. Both of Harris’ parents were heavily involved in the Civil Rights movement and would take their young daughter to marches in her stroller.
Harris served as district attorney in Alameda County in California until 2003, when she was elected district attorney for San Francisco City and County. When then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom declared same-sex marriage legal in the city, Harris conducted many marriage ceremonies for LGBTQ+ couples.
“I’ll never forget pulling up to see all the families of every configuration and just pure joy, pure happiness,” Harris said in an interview earlier this year. “It was such a special moment, and it was all about love.”
While in San Francisco, Harris established a special unit for prosecuting hate crimes in the area, as well ones for environmental justice cases and a program to give first-time drug offenders the opportunity to earn a high school degree and find employment. According to reporting from The Advocate, the U.S. Dept. of Justice called it a national model of innovation for law enforcement.
Harris was elected as attorney general of California, where she heavily opposed Proposition 8 — the voter-approved ballot initiative that revoked marriage equality in California in 2008. Harris refused to defend Prop. 8 in court and because of that, same-sex marriage was restored to California. Harris officiated the first same-sex post-Proposition 8 marriage of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier. In addition to restoring same-marriage in her home state, Harris led efforts to bar gay and transgender “panic” defenses in criminal trials.
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, Harris received perfect 100 scores on the Human Rights Campaign Congressional Scorecard, as well as for s Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America (now known as Reproductive Freedom for All), and NARAL Pro-Choice California.
She introduced legislation to mandate insurance coverage for HIV preventative treatments while she was in the Senate, and famously questioned now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on marriage equality during his confirmation hearings.
As vice president, Harris has spoken out against the tyraids of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, calling it “bullying.”
“The intersection on the issue of reproductive care and trans care, and the ability of families to be able to have care for their children and their families, is really, again, an intersection around attacks that are on an identity,” she said.
Harris spoke on this even more at a LGBTQ+ Pride reception last year, calling the fight for equality a patriotic cause.
“We believe in the foundational principles of our country; we believe in the promise of freedom and equality and justice,” she explained. “And so the fight for equal rights is an expression of our love of our country.”