After securing enough support from her Democratic delegates, Vice President Kamala Harris looks set to take on Donald Trump this November in the next presidential election.
With her background as a former criminal lawyer and state prosecutor, Harris has positioned herself as the polar opposite of her opponent, a convicted felon and the first American president to be impeached twice.
Earlier this week, Harris made her first campaign speech in Wisconsin, where she once again highlighted the former president’s criminal charges: “Before I was elected as vice president, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.”
A day later, the US vice-president was in Indianapolis to address members of the historically Black sorority group Zeta Phi Beta, appealing for their vote come election time.
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BBC News chief presenter Caitríona Perry tells The Women’s Podcast how Harris used this as an opportunity to speak about the issues facing American women: “When she was addressing that sorority, most of her speech was about women’s rights, reproductive rights, the rights of children, family rights, child care, paid parental leave, and all of these kinds of things that she can present a very different view on than Donald Trump can.”
In this episode, Perry also talks to Róisín Ingle about Harris’ rise through the political ranks, where she stands on key issues and what she might bring to the role if she wins in November.
You can listen back to this episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
