Washington, January 19: On Monday, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris officially resigned from her Senate seat thus ending her current four-year tenure in the upper chamber of the United States Congress. The 56-year-old resigned from the senate came in two days before she is about to be sworn in along with President-elect Joe Biden. As the day approaches, Harris is all set to make history not only as the first female but also as the Black and first South Asian American vice president.
Resignation of Kamala Harris
Harris, a democrat has officially submitted her letter of resignation addressing California Governor Gavin Newsom. She was quoted saying, “I hereby resign as Senator from the State of California, effective from January 18, 2021, at 12.00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST).” In her letter, she further stated: “As I assume my duties as Vice President of the United States, I would like to thank the people of California for the honour of serving them in the U.S. Senate over the past four years.”
Harris’ New Office Beginning
Harris won the seat back in November 2016 and was sworn in January 2017. Back then she was serving as the attorney general of California. Following her resignation, Newsom has already chosen Alex Padilla as the next California secretary of state to take over Harris’ seat. The newly-elected vice president has already had a conversation with Padilla before he takes up office, according to an inside source, who agreed to speak on grounds of anonymity.
Kamala Harris is known to have made history throughout her career, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a senator in the state of California. Post her win at the presidential elections, in her November victory speech she documented the difficult battles women had to face to exercise their civic rights and break into higher strata of American mainstream politics. Quoting a sentence from her famous speech, “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”
Sources: CNN, Business Standard
