Kamala Harris zeroes in on Trump at first campaign event

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Sen. Kamala Harris zeroed in on President Trump when discussing why the US leads the world with the most Covid-19 infections.

The US leads the world with more than 5 million coronavirus cases "because of Trump's failure to take it seriously from the start," Harris said during her first appearance as Joe Biden's choice for vice president.

Harris claimed Trump "inherited the longest economic expansion in history from Barack Obama and Joe Biden" and "ran it straight into the ground."

"Because of Trump's failures of leadership our economy has taken one of the biggest hits out of all the major industrialized nations with an unemployment rate that has tripled as of today," the senator from California said.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

During her speech, Sen. Kamala Harris discussed the importance of family in her life, referencing the nickname her kids have for her: "Momala"

She said, "I've had a lot of titles over my career and certainly vice president will be great. But 'Momala' will always be the one that means the most." 

Harris talked about how her parents, Jamaican and Indian immigrants, met while protesting for civil rights in Oakland in the 1960s.

"My mother and father, they came from opposite sides of the world to arrive in America. One from India and the other from Jamaica in search of a world-class education. But what brought them together was the civil rights movement of the 1960s. And that's how they met as students in the streets of Oakland marching and shouting for this thing called justice in a struggle that continues today," she said.

The California senator said her parents would bring her to protests as a little girl "strapped tightly in my stroller." 

Watch:

Pool

California Sen. Kamala Harris used her opening remarks during her first campaign appearance as Joe Biden's choice for vice president to honor the women who helped pave the way for her and acknowledge the work needed to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

The California Democrat said she was "incredibly honored by this responsibility" and that she was "ready to get to work." "I am ready to get to work," she said.

Harris characterized 2020 as a "moment of real consequence for America."

"Everything we care about, our economy, our health, our children, the kind of country we live in, it's all on the line. We're reeling from the worst public health crisis in a century. The President's mismanagement of the pandemic has plunging us into the worst economic crisis since the great depression," Harris said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden said he asked Kamala Harris to always tell him the truth and "to be the last voice in the room."

Here's what Biden said:

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris both walked out together for their first campaign event wearing masks.

As Biden spoke during the event in Delaware, the senator from California sat in a chair at a distance.

Their spouses are also wearing masks and reporters in the room appear to be sitting apart from each other.

Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

As the US continues to struggle through the coronavirus pandemic, former Vice President Joe Biden offered words of solace for the more than 5 million Americans who have contracted the disease.

Biden said the country needs "a president and a vice president willing to lead and take responsibility."

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Former Vice President Joe Biden said during his opening remarks that his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris' story is "America's story."

He said she is "a child of immigrants" who "knows personally how immigrant families enrich our country as well as the challenges of what it means to grow up Black and Indian-American in the United States of America." 

He continued: "And this morning, all across the nation, little girls woke up, especially little Black and brown girls that feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities, but today — today just maybe they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way as president and vice presidents."

Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

Former Vice President Joe Biden used his opening remarks at a campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware, to praise Sen. Kamala Harris who he called "the right person" for the role of vice president.

Biden called this upcoming presidential election a "serious moment for our nation."

Wat

h:

Pool

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, walked out together today for their first campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware.