Democratic strategist Van Jones heralded Vice President Harris’ rise to the top of the Democratic ticket as “a big deal.”
“Take a deep breath,” Jones said Friday on CNN’s “The Lead” with anchor Phil Mattingly. “Take a deep breath, this is a big deal.”
Harris was named the official Democratic nominee on Friday after the Democratic National Committee hosted a virtual roll call vote. If she is elected to the presidency in November, she will be the first woman, person of color and first person of South Asian descent to hold the country’s highest office.
“I’ve been voting for Kamala Harris for so long that sometimes you forget how extraordinary she is,” Jones told Mattingly. “And when I saw that they were selling merchandise saying ‘history made,’ and the ‘history made’ merchandise sold out almost immediately. I said, well, this is a big deal. This is a big deal.”
“I think about my mother, I think about my grandmothers when — it used to be a joke, the idea that we would ever have a black president,” he continued. “They didn’t even…the comedians didn’t even make jokes about having a black president because that was completely inconceivable.”
He added: “It’s 400 years. This is a very, very important business today and we must not rush.”
Her comments came as the vice president secured the number of votes needed for the nomination, less than two weeks since she declared her intention to run in President Biden’s place. Biden announced last month that he would step aside and later endorse Harris.
Within days, Harris secured enough support from pledged delegates to secure the nomination. She also collected a growing list of major Democratic endorsements and boasted record fundraising numbers.
“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States, and I will tell you that the tireless work of our delegates, our state leaders and our staff has been instrumental in making this moment possible,” Harris said Friday after the news was announced.
His rise to the top of the ticket was unusual, coming only after weeks of turmoil among Democrats over whether Biden could defeat President Trump in November or serve another four years in the White House. The chaos resulted from a bitter debate, where the president seemed to have no energy, had a hoarse voice and lost his train of thought.
Now, all eyes are on Harris as she is expected to name her running mate in the coming days. Although the vice president signaled that she had not yet chosen, several figures rose to the top of her list, including Democratic governors Josh Shapiro (Pa.) and Tim Walz (Minn.); Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Jones on Friday said Shapiro was “the most logical person to get that ticket to the finish line.”
“Pennsylvania is a must-win,” Jones told Mattingly. “He is incredibly popular in Pennsylvania, he is a beloved figure in Pennsylvania and he can make a tremendous difference.”
“He gets Republican and Democratic votes every time he raises his hand for public office. And so, he is under attack,” he said. “But it will…take a little courage on her part to have, let’s be honest, a black and Jewish passage.”
But, Jones added, “We are not afraid of prejudice. We are not afraid of anti-Jewish prejudice. We are not afraid of anti-black prejudice. We are not afraid of anti-women prejudice.”
“We will choose strong leaders, no matter what they look like, no matter how they pray,” he added.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
