November 7, 2020 - After Delayed Results, Harris Makes History as First Woman Elected Vice President of the United States

After a delay in election results due to the high level of mail-in voting resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, Biden and Harris are declared winners by all major news outlets. In her victory speech, Harris celebrates breaking “one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country” through her election as the first woman, the first Black, and the first South Asian vice president of the United States. She reflects on the message that her success would send to young people – that they should “dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you” – as well as the women who paved the way to her victory. After sharing that she is thinking of her own mother who came to the United States from India at age 19 with faith in America’s promise, Harris adds: “I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black Women, Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation’s history who have paved the way for this moment tonight. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty, and justice for all…Tonight, I reflect on their struggle, their determination and the strength of their vision – to see what can be unburdened by what has been – I stand on their shoulders.” She says even more specifically: “I want to speak directly to the Black women in our country. Thank you. You are too often overlooked and yet are asked time and again to step up and be the backbone of our democracy. We could not have done this without you.”