Skip to content

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
      • Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows

        Jessica Kutz · April 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
      • U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik wants to elect more Republican women into office

        Barbara Rodriguez · August 13
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Jessica Cisneros takes on the last anti-abortion U.S. House Democrat

        Amanda Becker · February 25
      • Meet J. Michelle Childs, South Carolina judge and possible Supreme Court contender

        Candice Norwood · February 18
      • ‘The bench is loaded’: A record number of Latinas are running for governor

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 11
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: The governor’s races we’re watching in 2022

        Barbara Rodriguez · May 3
      • The 19th Explains: What to know about Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing

        Candice Norwood, Terri Rupar · March 21
      • The 19th Explains: Colleges are dropping the SAT in admissions. That’s a good thing for most girls.

        Nadra Nittle · March 3
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
      • Girls are being socialized to lose political ambition — and it starts younger than we realized

        Barbara Rodriguez · September 23
      • Kathy Hochul’s rise in New York spotlights the barriers to women becoming governors

        Barbara Rodriguez · August 23
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • Woman alleges that an assisted living facility denied her admission because she is transgender

        Sara Luterman · November 8
      • LGBTQ+ seniors fear having to go back in closet for the care they need

        Sara Luterman · October 12
      • The pandemic continues to strain nursing homes. What happens if a lot of them close?

        Mariel Padilla · September 9
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Florida’s redistricting fight continues. The head of the state League of Women Voters talks about what’s at stake.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 19
      • Women have been sounding the alarm ahead of Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 28
      • LGBTQ+ people of color are at risk from rising voter restrictions as federal protections falter in the Senate, advocates say

        Orion Rummler · January 19

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Elections 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Donate to get our member newsletter

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

People celebrating the news of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris' election, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Election 2020

Women and LGBTQ+ voters celebrate Harris’ win

The ascension of Harris, the woman of color vice president-elect, prompts bipartisan celebration.

By

Chabeli Carrazana, Shefali Luthra, Barbara Rodriguez, Kate Sosin

Published

2020-11-07 14:34
2:34
November 7, 2020
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

We’re the only newsroom dedicated to writing about gender, politics and policy. Subscribe to our newsletter today.

On Saturday, the Associated Press and the major networks declared former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris victorious in their path to 270 electoral votes, making them the president and vice president-elect of the United States. 

Harris made history by becoming the first woman, and the first Black and South Asian person, to be named to the second-highest office in the land, and The 19th spoke with voters about what her ascendency means to them. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Lourdes Orta got the text from a friend when the results came in that Biden was the projected winner. She replied: “First female vice president.” 

Orta, a Miami Republican, had women’s rights on her mind when she cast her vote early for Biden. She voted for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, and said she wanted to see the first woman elected to the vice presidency. “She’s sharp,” Orta, 57, said of Harris. “This is a smart person that I would like to have represent me and now that she is in this role, I am very, very excited.” 

The friend who first broke the news to her, a coworker and member of the LGBTQ+ community, replied to her comment: “I can now be proud of my country again.” 

Rep. Anna Eskamani, the first Iranian American in the Florida legislature, said it was an “incredible feeling” to have a woman in the White House.

Like Harris, Eskamani is the daughter of immigrants. Eskamani’s parents immigrated from Iran. Her father was an engineer who worked weekends at Walt Disney World to keep the family afloat. Eskamani’s mother worked at fast-food restaurants and in retail. She died in 2004 of colon cancer. 

Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, also died of colon cancer in 2009.  

“As a fellow daughter of immigrants, this is only something our ancestors dreamed about,” said Eskamani, a Democrat who represents Orlando. “I know her mom would be so proud of her.”

A newsletter you can relate to

Storytelling that represents you, delivered to your inbox.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Vivian Davis Figures, who is one of only a handful of Black women currently serving in the 35-member Alabama State Senate, said her heart was “joyfully bursting with gratitude, pride and hope” when she saw the news of Biden and Harris’s victory.

“I’m grateful that I get to witness the first female, who just happens to be an African American, South Asian, become vice president of the United States of America,” the 63-year-old Democrat said. “I’m so proud of her, because she is a perfect example of what we as women of color can do, and become, just given the opportunity.”

Figures said Harris “exemplifies what can be for our little girls of color to see her, and believe that anything is possible.”

“Even for us women, older women of color, it gives us the inspiration to know that if we forge ahead, we can make a difference,” she said. “One can make a difference.” 

“And, of course, I’m proud that she is my sorority sister,” said Figures, also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. “But she is a sister to all of us in one way or another, for she will bring stellar leadership that represents everyone.”

Gloria Butler, a Democrat who serves in the Georgia State Senate, said she has had her television on day and night since Election Day.

“I’ve been missing sleep, waking up early, just to hear whoever was going to make the announcement, to say it,” she said, adding that her neighbors probably heard her excitedly “yelling and screaming” when the networks called it.

Butler, a Black woman who was elected to the Senate in 1998, said she remembers the joy she felt when Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008. She is happy to see more progress on representation.

“I thought I’d never see a Black man go to the White House. I thought I’d never see a Black woman go to the White House,” said the 78-year-old. “And I’ve lived long enough to see both. It’s just like going myself.”

Jen Laws, a public policy consultant and trans man, had been preparing for the official call since Wednesday. 

“My mind had already shifted to watching health care policy issues on the table — COVID and ending the HIV epidemic, which I hope to see Biden carry through on with more meaningful funding,” he told The 19th. Laws is already looking forward to a Biden administration that will restore Obama-era anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people. 

Laws never changed his name from Jen, in part because he fears he could be arrested and detained with men for his advocacy work. The Trump administration has weakened regulations intended to keep transgender prisoners safe. 

Because Laws never changed his name, he faced questioning from Louisiana poll workers on election day. Laws came prepared with his driver’s license, passport, birth certificate and current auto insurance to vote.

“I’m used to my name and the funny looks,” he said. “It seemed obvious to me they wanted to ask more, but the back-up from one poll worker discouraged that line of questioning.”

Laws was ultimately allowed to vote.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Shuchi Talati, a 33-year-old climate policy specialist in Washington, D.C. Talati, a registered Democrat said neither Biden nor Harris was her first choice in the Democratic primary. She had supported Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose policies she felt were more in line with her own values. But she can’t overstate just how meaningful it is to see a woman — and a woman who, like her, has Indian ancestry — entering the White House.

“I’ve worked in the Senate before, I’ve worked in the White House. They were phenomenal places, but there weren’t a lot of women of color,” she said. “That a woman of color will lead an office and build a diverse staff to reflect what this country looks like is something I’m looking toward to seeing, and participating in.”

Talati’s parents immigrated from India, but she grew up in Texas. As a child, she said, she grew used to feeling “like the outlier.” Now, she said, she envisions a different future for her own children — a world where having a woman vice president isn’t an aberration, but a norm.

“The fact that we have a South Asian and Black woman as vice president means I’m not an outlier anymore,” she said.

Tapasya Wancho, 31, cried when Harris was announced as Biden’s running mate. And on Saturday morning, she cried again.

Wancho, who grew up in New York, has family from Kashmir. Her family is split in half on politics, she said. There are liberals, like her, but also conservatives. Her grandmother, who Wancho says voted for Biden and Harris reluctantly, also recognized the historic nature of the win. “‘If [Harris] can make it possible that you can be in office, I’m happy,’” Wancho recalled her grandmother saying. “For me, the moment with my grandmother was really special.”

Read more

  • Kamala Harris, America’s first female vice president-elect, makes history
  • Kamala Harris applauds Biden’s “audacity to choose a Black woman to be his running mate”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Building stronger together.

A new model for nonprofit journalism: For our readers. For our team. For our community.

Become a member

Sign up for our newsletter

Up Next

A couple shares an intimate moment in the park.

LGBTQ+

Equality Act hangs in the balance as Democrats falter in Senate races

Can Biden convince enough Republicans to back the federal LGBTQ+ protections he promised? 

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Attend an Event
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram