After U.S. President Joe Biden abruptly ended his re-election bid, Vice President Kamala Harris now has the potential to become the first woman to serve as U.S. president — and a Democratic presidential candidate with strong ties to Canada. Also running.
Harris spent a few formative years in Montreal and graduated from Westmount High School in 1981. In his own words, he recounted his time in the city in his memoir: The Truths We Hold: America’s Journey. She describes her arrival in the city at age 12 in the mid-1970s, when her Indian-born mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer researcher, was working at McGill University.
Dean Smith, co-owner of the Trevor Williams Kids Foundation, attended the same high school as Harris and has a nephew in the same class.
“I’m happy to see that it’s a black woman… She could be the first woman to be president of the United States, you know what I mean? And because he was here in Montreal, we went to school together, and that’s where all the drama happened. I’m happy,” he said Monday.
“This could be the best relationship you ever have!”
Aside from bragging rights, Smith said his experience as vice president and his ability to run for president have proven to be very inspiring to local youth, especially young women.
“It shows them that they can follow the same path as him…they can do the same thing here.”
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Dean said her memories of him in Westmount matched the person she saw on the news and that he too was “smiling and laughing the same way.”
“He was the same then as he is now… Wherever you put him, he can get along with anyone.”
Erin Kotecki-West, chair of Canada’s Democratic Party Abroad, said she hopes Harris “still has family here and roots from her formative years” that will engage and inspire Canadians in American politics. Americans living in Canada will receive their ballots And vote regardless of your party affiliation.
Kotecki-West, whose voting state is California, where Harris served as attorney general and then as a senator, said: “Since I’ve lived here in Montreal and Quebec near the border, I’ve seen her occasionally in politics. “Americans’ emotions are running high.”
“I hope that with Vice President Harris… it will bring some comfort to Canadians and Americans who live here knowing that they have someone who knows their culture, who knows a little bit about what things are like in their region, in their city, in their town, in their province.
Although the Overseas Democrats have not officially endorsed anyone, Kotecki-West said personally that he thinks it “makes a lot of sense.”
“I think it’s a very transparent way for Americans who are voting in the primaries to look at the ticket and say, ‘OK, this is the guy who’s going to be number two, no matter what.’ Let’s do it.'”
Harris is the first woman, person of color or South Asian descent to serve as vice president.
Biden announced his withdrawal on Sunday amid widespread concerns about the viability of his candidacy.
He wrote on the social media platform Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi also supported Harris.
—With files from Braden Jagger Haynes and Chris Megerian of The Associated Press, Zeke Miller and Seung Min Kim
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