the news that Joe Biden
had won the 2020 election
was, especially for many
women and people of color,
just as much—or more—
about his running mate. Upon
hearing that Kamala Har-
ris would be the first female,
first Black and first Asian-
American Vice President,
mothers called their daugh-
ters, and children of immi-
grants hugged their parents.
Champagne was popped.
“When [my mother]
came here from India at
the age of 19, maybe she
didn’t quite imagine this
moment. But she believed
so deeply in an America
where a moment like this is
possible,” Harris said in her
victory speech on Nov. 7.
Exit polls suggest that
women of color voted blue
by large margins. Now,
having helped push the
Democratic ticket to victory,
many of those voters say that
bearing witness to Harris’
win was a moment they’ll
always remember—and,
they hope, that will shape
generations to come.
Mira Sawlani-Joyner,
a 38-year-old pastor in
Arlington, Va., recalls that
when she first told her
7- and 8-year-old daughters
how significant it would be
if Harris became the first
woman of color to be Vice
President, her younger
daughter immediately asked,
“Does that mean I can be
President?”High School in Chicago,
says that she wants to be
a cardiothoracic surgeon,
but that she also feels a
calling to one day enter
public office—even to aim
for the highest office—and
that Harris has inspired her
to pursue that path more
confidently, believing that
future barriers could be
broken more quickly. “There
needs to be a push now for
a lot of people of color and
women to go into positions
in government,” she says.
Not that Harris is im-
mune to criticism from those
whose identities she reflects.
On Twitter in particular,
many users expressed mixed
emotions, recognizing the
importance of what Harris
represents while also criti-
cizing her record, especially^
Monica Narain with her
daughter at a party near
a Biden campaign office
in Tampa on Nov. 7‘IT MEANS THAT PEOPLE
ARE GOING TO TAKE MY
DAUGHTERS SERIOUSLY TOO.’
When powerlooks like meIn the minds of many women and voters
of color, Kamala Harris is second to noneBY ANNA PURNA KAMBHAMPATY AND CADY LANGNATION
As the family watched
Harris’ victory speech, the
conversations in the living
room flowed with dreams of
future administrations. “One
of my daughters would say,
‘I’ll be President and then
you can be Vice President.’
Then they’d be like, ‘What
does that mean for our
husbands? Will they
be First Men? What if a
woman who is President
marries a woman? What if
they’re nonbinary? They’d
be First Person.’ ”
To Sawlani-Joyner, who
is an immigrant and whose
children are Black and Indian
like Harris, the potential
efect of having Harris in
the country’s second highest
office was clear. “Growing
up, you’re always told you
can be whatever you want to
be,” she says. “But then that
hope starts to dim as you
get older and you confront
a lot of barriers. But here’s
a woman that’s overcome
stereotypes and gender
roles and status quo... and
it means that people are
going to take my daughters
seriously too.”For some, that impact is
already being felt. Da’Jae
Allen, 15, a sophomore at
Whitney M. Young Magneton criminal justice.
But Erica Davies, a
30-year-old voter from
New York City who has both
Black and Asian heritage,
hopes that this moment,
and what it does to encour-
age a more diverse group of
future politicians, will bring
change that goes beyond
representation.
And in the meantime, the
power of that representation
can’t be underestimated.
“For kids like me who had an
identity crisis when they were
little or always felt like they
had to choose,” Davies says,
“it’s nice that they can see
that they don’t have to, and
that they can really embrace
all parts of themselves—and
the nation will hopefully do
OPENING PAGES: GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE: OCTAVIO JONES—GETTY IMAGES the same as well.” •