VP Harris quickly embraces her new role as a Democratic candidate for president

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Vice President Kamala Harris says she is proud to have secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become the party's presidential nominee. The party is sticking with their plan to hold an electronic roll-call vote to select the nominee ahead of next month's convention. That is expected to take place by August 7. Harris spoke at the Democratic campaign's headquarters in Delaware yesterday.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: So in the days and weeks ahead, I, together with you, will do everything in my power to unite our Democratic Party, to unite our nation and to win this election.

MARTIN: One representative who quickly came out to endorse Harris is Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington state. She's also the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and she is with us now via Skype. Good morning, Congresswoman.

PRAMILA JAYAPAL: Good morning, Michel.

MARTIN: I just wanted to start by asking how all this is landing with you. I mean, on the one hand, I'm assuming it's gratifying to have someone who is like you - a woman of color - at the top of the ticket. On the other hand, the Progressive Caucus has had some differences with the Biden-Harris administration. How are you taking all this in?

JAYAPAL: Well, Michel, you know, we got so much done under President Biden, working with President Biden. The Progressive Caucus was the largest bloc of votes for his agenda, so there's been - I think it's been a tough couple of weeks, but yes, we are extremely excited now to have that part behind us, to be able to unify as a party, to be able to unify as progressives. We had the quickest endorsement vote for Kamala Harris as our nominee. I think within a couple of hours, it was done, with a supermajority of all of our members being on board, and so I think this is a great moment for the nation. As a woman of color myself, as you said, as a South Asian American, to have her at the top of the ticket is going to push new momentum into our voters across the country.

MARTIN: What do you say to those who say they think a competitive open primary would actually be better? I mean, this has become a GOP talking point - right? - it has to be said, but there are those within the party who say that - you know, and also some editorial writers who say, you know, maybe the Democrats should slow their roll, that it might actually give her more momentum and credibility if there were a more competitive process. What do you say to that?

JAYAPAL: Well, I say that there is actually an orderly and transparent and prudent process. Anyone could step up for the Democratic nomination for president right now if they wanted. They would need to have a pledge of support of 300 delegates to do that, but there is a process in place for that, and I think what you're seeing is that the country understands that Kamala Harris is the only other person, other than Joe Biden, who had tens of millions of votes cast for her during the primary election. Voters cast their votes for the Biden-Harris administration, and I think that she has a lot of credibility because people already selected her as somebody that would be great to step in if President Biden were not to be president. So in that sense, I think we have the majority of voters with us.

And we can't forget that this is a very short runway to the election, so I think everybody's ready to get to work, to have her prosecute the case against Donald Trump and to make sure that we win in November - win back the House, the Senate and the White House - so that we can implement that economic agenda that the Biden-Harris administration has already laid out and is going to be so important for making sure Americans see themselves as benefiting from what we're going to do next.

MARTIN: Thoughts about who should join Harris on the ticket - do you have some?

JAYAPAL: You know, she's a vice president herself, so she knows how important that role is, and I have full faith and confidence that she's going to pick somebody that's going to appeal to an even broader swathe of voters, but Michel, I would just again say this economic agenda of taking on housing, of taking on child care - that is the thing that people are going to be watching the most, and, you know, having a vice president who can communicate that economic agenda, obviously, is going to be very important.

MARTIN: And, like, what is that? I mean, this is - so what you're kind of hearing so far is that she's the best person to beat Donald Trump, in part because she's, you know, a former prosecutor, and he is - as we know, has been convicted of a number of crimes, so that's been one of the themes, but what else is there?

JAYAPAL: Well, I think the structural changes that we need - that is, of course, codifying abortion rights, making sure that we pass voting rights, getting money out of politics - but then, on the economic agenda side, you know, taking on the high cost of housing, taking on the high cost of child care, making sure that we have universal child care where no family pays more than 7%, making sure that we expand Social Security and Medicare for our seniors, continuing to prosecute the case against big companies that are not paying their fair share of taxes and billionaires that are getting away without paying their fair share of taxes - this is all part of the agenda we've been working towards, and President Biden started to lay that out in his Detroit rally. I think Kamala Harris is going to be able to continue that case, to say every American everywhere should feel like their life is better because we have Kamala Harris as our president.

MARTIN: Before we let you go, and we don't have a lot of time for this, one area of difference between the Biden administration and the progressives has been around U.S. support for Israel and the war in Gaza. The Israeli prime minister is here in Washington. He's about to speak to the Congress. Do you see any indication that Harris might move away from that position?

JAYAPAL: I know that I've had a long conversation with her about this, and I believe that she has an opportunity to appeal to people because of her empathy for the Palestinian situation, so I know she's not going to be attending the address. Neither will I, and I look forward to making sure that we have a change in policy.

MARTIN: That is Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington state. She's also the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Congresswoman, thank you for joining us.

JAYAPAL: Thank you, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.