(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris struggled to answer questions during an interview where she was probed about the assumption that her selection as Joe Biden’s running mate was primarily due to her race.
Astead Herndon, a reporter from the New York Times, posed the probing question during Thursday podcast, triggering a moment of confusion from Harris.
“[Biden] came to the decision that he needed to choose a Black woman,” Herndon said, as reported by Fox News.
“While that is obviously about you, it’s not necessarily you personally, but your identity. How should it matter, does it matter that that narrative has existed, that Biden needed to choose someone who was a black person, and should it matter?” he asked.
Harris claimed she did not comprehend the question, but Herndon repeated the question.
“Does it matter that, that kind of narrative around Biden needed to choose a black woman as a running mate still exists and has hovered over that selection?” he asked, but Harris appeared to dismiss the assertion.
“It happened,” she said, laughing. “I don’t think, I honestly don’t understand your question. Has it lingered?”
“He chose a Black woman, that woman is me, so I don’t know that anything lingers about what he should choose. He has chosen, he asked me to join him on the ticket,” she added, before urging the reporter to “move on.”
The selection process for Biden’s running mate garnered contentious attention during the 2020 presidential election.
Biden appeared to commit to choosing a woman as his running mate. Notable Democrats like former Rep. Karen Bass, Susan Rice, Gretchen Whitmer and Elizabeth Warren were among those considered for the role.
Ultimately, Biden tapped Harris, who herself attempted to clinch the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.
The interview, conducted by the NY Times in August in Chicago for a podcast, was only recently released, as reported by Fox News.
