WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Democrats are welcoming the selection of California Senator Kamala Harris as the running mate of former Vice President Joe Biden for the upcoming presidential election.
“She’s up to the task and that’s what I’m looking forward to,” Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said Tuesday.
Clyburn heard the news from Biden just before the public announcement.
“So I’m not surprised at this pick at all and I’m very proud of it,” Clyburn said.
While Florida Congresswoman Kathy Castor was rooting for her Democratic Sunshine State colleague Congresswoman Val Demings to be VP, she said Wednesday she’s excited about Harris.
“I think Senator Harris is going to be very popular in the state of Florida,” she said.
Florida is one of a handful of key swing states the Biden-Harris ticket will be working to win over this November. Another one is North Carolina, a state President Donald Trump won in 2016.
“I think she’ll play very well in this state,” Rep. David Price (D-NC) said.
Price said Wednesday that Harris only helps the Democratic ticket.
But Republican Georgia Congressman Jody Hice said her ideas aren’t going to register with voters in his state.
“Just because she is so radical, and she just got a lot of baggage,” Hice said.
And Senator David Perdue (R-GA) said a Biden-Harris ticket would “pull America down the road to socialism.”
Still, one Republican – Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett – positively noted in a tweet Wednesday that, “it’s pretty cool that we live in a country where an immigrant couple can have a girl that can have a shot at being the most powerful person in the world.”
The Biden-Harris ticket will continue to try to ride this momentum into next week when the Democratic National Convention begins.
