Introducing a video shown to AFSCME delegates at our union’s 44th International Convention, President Lee Saunders praised California Sen. Kamala Harris, now Joe Biden’s vice-presidential pick, calling her “a fierce fighter for justice, someone who is passionate about public service, a strong leader who will fight for our families and our communities.”
He said Harris’ nomination is especially meaningful at this time for our country.
“At this moment, when issues of racial and gender justice are coming to the fore, it will mean something that the vice president of the United States has lived these challenges,” Saunders said. “It will mean something for the vice president of the United States to be a woman of color.”
His remarks offered further praise for Harris, chosen on Tuesday by Biden to join his ticket. Earlier this week, Saunders expressed confidence in Harris, now the first woman of color to be nominated for vice president by a major political party.
“We know Senator Harris will continue her relentless advocacy to ensure that we win for working people in 2020, address deepening inequality and work to unrig the rules of our economy so that everyone, not just the wealthy and privileged, can thrive,” he said in a press release.
Harris, whose father is from Jamaica and mother was from India, began her Senate career in 2017. Before then, she was a longtime prosecutor who served as California’s attorney general.
In a video shown at the convention, Harris is shown participating in the AFSCME 2020 Public Service Forum, held last year in Nevada.
“It is organized labor, it is the leaders who are here and are watching, who every day fight for working people in America,” Harris said at the event. “I will always support the right to strike and the right to organize. I honor the work that you do every day and the work of the members of AFSCME.”
Watch the full video here.