Growing up, young girls have role models they look up to and idolize. Whether that may have been Kim Possible, Hermione Granger or Mrs. Incredible, they all have one thing in common. The traits of compassion, grace and confidence, everything needed to be classified as an idol. Although these women are fictional, they give little girls the spirit of girl power that is needed in America. As young girls grow into women and start to peak into politics, role models change from fictional characters into historic power icons, such as Jakcie Kennedy, Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris. Who even is Kamala Harris?

On Aug. 11 Kamala Harris was nominated by presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden to serve alongside him as vice president, if elected in November. Harris is the fourth woman to be placed on a major party ticket. She is also the first African American and South Asian American to be nominated. Early in Biden’s candidacy, he made it clear that he would choose a woman, preferably of color, as his running mate. 

“I think it’s good to see women in power and to not back down to men. Women can do anything men can do,” junior Olivia Evans said. 

Before choosing Kamala Harris, Biden was considering Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Stacy Abrams. Klobuchar and Warren currently serve as U.S. senior senators in their home states of Minnesota (Klobuchar) and Massachusetts (Warren). Abrams served as a Georgia representative from 2007-2017, while also being the minority leader. Although these three women have an excellent political background, they didn’t have that ambition in them to defeat the competition. Harris happens to have that fierce flame inside of her, and is capable of defeating the Trump campaign through Biden’s eyes. 

Kamala Harris attended Howard University to receive her undergraduate and then graduated from UC Hastings College of Law, earning her law degree in 1989. In 2003, she began her first historic job as District Attorney of San Francisco. She was the first person of color to hold this position in the bay area. In 2010, Harris was elected Attorney General of California and then re-elected in 2014. Harris was the first woman in California to serve as an Attorney General. In 2017, she was elected as the first South Asian and second African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. In 2019, Harris announced her Democratic candidacy for the 2020 presidential election, which is really what boosted her fandom.

Americans admired her willingness to speak up about civil and social injustice in the country. She isn’t afraid to send cold attacks to the president and is prepared for backlash. Trump, on the other hand, is not a fan of Harris’s fierceness and determination to defeat him in November. 

“I honestly think that no matter who was going to run for Biden’s running mate, Trump is going to act negatively towards them. The Trump/Pence campaign already has a reputation for calling the other side out and I think choosing Kamala as a running mate is just adding more fuel to the fire,” LPPACS senior Sydney Palakovich, who resides in Freedom said.

In early 2020, she decided to suspend her campaign ending her candidacy. Biden acknowledged her passion for civil justice, boldness, compasion, audacity and smarts. Later in 2020, Biden nominated Harris to be his vice president and she gracefully accepted. 

While opening up her nomination speech, she said these powerful words to keep inspiring the little girls across America, “This week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, and we celebrate the women who fought for that right. These women and the generations that followed, worked to make a democracy and opportunity real in the lives of all of us who’ve followed. They paved the way for the trailblazing leadership of Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton and these women inspired us to pick up the torch and fight on.”  Biden knew that choosing a woman with so many passions and strengths can hopefully win them the titles of President Biden and Vice President Harris.

“I believe this will help encourage more women to get involved in politics because they have proof that women are just as important as men in the political world,” senior Angel Clinkscales said.

The Biden-Harris campaign still has a strong lead over the Trump-Pence campaign, with only 56 days until the election. Since Harris teamed up with Biden, their popularity among the American people has only gotten stronger. America seems to really like this duo together and are ready to see what they can accomplish in the White House. Especially coming from Kamala’s fans of the African American and South Asian communities, it’s exciting to see historic ethnic change. Seeing powerful women accomplish historic achievements gives little girls the feeling that they really can do anything, despite their gender.