Harris focuses on her personal story, not Biden questions, as she speaks to Black and Asian voters

DALLAS (AP) — First, Vice President Kamala Harris went to Nevada to launch the reelection’s outreach campaign to Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and addressed the crowd as “longtime friends.”

Then, she was in Dallas to speak at the annual gathering of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the Black sorority that she pledged as a student at Howard University, one of the most storied historically Black colleges in the country. She conveyed to her fellow “sorors” — sorority sisters — about the stakes of November’s election.

Events she held on successive days this week illustrate how her racial identity and personal background could help President Joe Biden ‘s flagging reelection after his widely-panned June 27 debate performance, and make her a potentially formidable replacement if he withdraws.

Harris is the nation’s first female vice president as well as the first Black woman and person of Asian descent to hold the role. The campaign swing allowed the vice president to exhort key elements of the Biden coalition by addressing her personal story more than squabbles among Democrats about whether Biden should bow out and let her be the party’s presidential nominee.

The vice president’s mix of identities can sometimes perplex her detractors, but supporters argue it is an embodiment of America’s rich nuances. Throughout her campaign events this week, Harris sought to use her multifaceted identities and life story as a vehicle to defend universal American values such as freedom, justice and democracy.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true»