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Rep. Gwen Moore Says Black Women Thrilled About Political Moment Around Kamala Harris

The Wisconsin congresswoman is encouraged by the increase of Black women running for office

A day after Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore kicked off the 2020 Democratic National Convention with a one-minute, energetic and passionate speech encouraging everyone to get behind her “beloved friend” Joe Biden for president, Moore told BET.com that she is also thrilled about this historic moment for his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, and for Black women.

“The day Kamala was named VP [candidate], it was so thrilling. My son ran for state representative and was nominated on the same day. They announced Kamala in the day and he won later that night. And I don’t think anything could have brought me down. I was floating on cloud nine,” Moore said.

“[Black women] are just giddy. I get in the Uber and the Uber driver is happy. My hairdresser is happy. I get in the store and people are happy,” said Moore, whose district includes Milwaukee and some adjacent suburbs.

Moore and Harris are both Congressional Black Caucus members. She says people should know her colleague is compassionate, just like Biden. But Moore says Harris is also tough and no nonsense.

“She has prosecuted people who have poisoned the environment – with the gas and oil. People who have committed wage theft. People who have stood up [to] fake universities, like Trump University,” Moore said. “She went after the bad apples that hurt the people.”  

Moore said she is excited about the surge in Black women getting elected and appointed to key political offices across the country – including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. She said it’s really affirming for young girls and women to be able to see themselves in these leaders.

“These women are in the tradition of the Black women we have grown to admire. In the tradition of Ida B. WellsBarbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm,” Moore said. “It lets us know every single generation has to pick up the baton.”

Moore said when she heard Michelle Obama’s emotional speech at the DNC Monday night, she couldn’t contain her joy.

“Michelle Obama … she dropped the bomb on the man,” she says, laughing. “I think people were surprised at the sharpness of her words last night but they were given in a very loving way.”

“She did not call [Trump] any names. She did not come up with any clever meme for him, like I might have. I might have come up with something nasty to say,” Moore said. “He might have called me a nasty woman.”

As for her friends -- Biden and Harris, Moore said Biden is as caring and compassionate as he was depicted at Monday night’s convention.

She related a story of how Biden heard that her nephew had a heart transplant when he was just 22 years old and the next thing she knows, “Joe found out about that and wrote him a three page letter encouraging him. I mean who does that?”

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