Kamala Harris speaks at the 2020 Presidential Gun Safety Forum in Las Vegas, Nevada, Wednesday Oct. 2, 2019.
Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 | 6:30 p.m.
Joe Biden’s selection of California's junior U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate Tuesday afternoon triggered a deluge of support from Nevada Democrats.
The decision, which Biden had kept close to his chest, came just days before the start of the Democratic National Convention, where Biden will formally accept the party’s nomination for president.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., pledged her support for the ticket.
“I’m just excited to try to do everything we can, touch as many folks as we can and really excite them as to what we can be, what we want to be,” Rosen said. “Our aspirational goals, I think that’s what a Biden-Harris ticket is going to remind us: who we want to be, who we should be.”
Rosen touted Harris’ stances on issues ranging from immigration to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, which Harris has said she opposed. Rosen called Harris a “pragmatic problem-solver.”
Rosen’s Nevada colleague, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, released a statement calling Harris’ selection a “home run.”
Democratic Reps. Susie Lee, Steven Horsford and Dina Titus each signaled their support on Twitter.
Titus touted Harris' willingness to take on “powerful people or powerful interests.”
Horsford in a statement said that it was a "historic day" for the country and that Biden and Harris will work to make the country more “fair and equitable.”
In Carson City, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak took to Twitter to congratulate Harris, calling her a “fighter to the core.”
Las Vegas-area state Sen. Pat Spearman released a statement drawing a dichotomy between the Biden-Harris ticket and President Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election in November. Trump, Spearman said, has “trampled on the constitutional rights of so many Americans — women and people of color in particular.”
Harris, who previously had been an outspoken opponent of Biden while she sought the Democratic nomination early on in the presidential primaries, dropped out before the Nevada caucuses, though she had campaigned in the state numerous times. Harris led all other Democratic candidates with 45 politicians and community leaders in Nevada endorsing her before she suspended her campaign. These included state Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Henderson, and Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, D-Las Vegas.
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, long considered the dean of Nevada Democratic politics, said in a statement that Harris would bring a “valuable Western voice” to the ticket.
“Kamala Harris will play a vital role in helping Joe Biden lead the country out of the crises and dysfunction brought on by President Trump and his sycophants in Congress,” Reid said in a statement.
Silver State Equality, a Nevada organization dedicated to LGBTQ rights, applauded Biden's selection of Harris for the ticket. In a statement, director André Wade called Harris an “exceptional choice” and said he was confident LGBTQ Nevadans — a “key voting bloc in a key swing state” — would turn out for the ticket.
“Throughout her career, Sen. Harris has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to civil rights and social justice for all LGBTQ+ people,” Wade said in his statement.
Republicans, however, have already begun the attacks on Harris. Trump Victory spokesperson Keith Schipper released a statement after the selection was announced, calling Harris a “far-left radical,” signaling a desire to frame Harris’ selection as a capitulation by Biden’s campaign to the left.
It remains to be seen how Harris’ selection will affect Biden’s performance in the Silver State, which went for Democrat Hillary Clinton by two points in the 2016 election. The most recent presidential poll of Nevada was released on May 6, according to website FiveThirtyEight, and showed Biden leading Trump by 4 percentage points.
Reid, at least, isn’t worried.
“The Biden-Harris team is unbeatable,” he said in a statement.
