GOVERNMENT

Texas Democrats exult in Biden’s pick of Harris

Jonathan Tilove
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., listens as former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a Democratic presidential primary debate in July 2019.

Texas has the largest Black population of any state, and on Tuesday, Carroll Robinson, chairman of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, which has 100,000 dues-paying member in 23 chapters across the state, was over the moon with joy on the news that Joe Biden had chosen California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.

“This is like the invention of penicillin, this is a cure-all, this is quite helpful, this is a blessing,” Robinson said. “Can you tell I am a little excited and exuberant?”

Robinson said that if there were any Democrats simply “going through the motions” to support Biden, the Harris pick raised the already high stakes of the 2020 election.

“You don't want to be on the wrong side of history,” said Robinson of the choice of a women of color for the Democratic ticket. “Everybody is now on the roster of accountability.”

Robinson said that it was African-American voters in South Carolina who altered the trajectory of the presidential nominating contest in Biden’s favor, and now, “an African American woman on the ticket with him really seals the deal.”

No Texas political figure is closer to Harris than Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis. They met when he was on the Houston City Council and she was fresh out of law school, working on Capitol Hill. Harris and Ellis’ wife were students together at Howard University.

Ellis backed her presidential bid, and if that ended in disappointment, Tuesday provided a deep sense of satisfaction.

“Biden wanted somebody that he felt he had a personal connection with to cover the backs of the American people, but also cover his back, who will be his partner for the four or eight years that he hopes to be in the White House,” Ellis said.

State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said Harris had the right kind of experience at the state and federal levels.

Together, Biden and Harris “will not be afraid to fight the good fight and to get into good trouble,” West said.

Harris is making history in more than one way. Her mother was born in India and her father in Jamaica, and, if African American voters are the core of the Democratic base, Asian-Americans in Texas and elsewhere are increasingly trending Democratic.

“It’s a huge plus for Texas,” Dr. Pritesh Gandhi said of the pick of Harris, who backed him in his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for the 10th Congressional District. “The Asian American/South Asian voting bloc is the fastest growing group in Texas. It’s, in my opinion, the key to victory for the state in the fall.”

On the other hand, Texas GOP Chairman Allen West said Harris was a poor fit for Texas.

“In Texas, we do not want the failed economic policies of California,” he said. “There’s a reason why people are fleeing California and other failed blue states for the growth, opportunity and promise of Texas.”