Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Monday said that California Senator Kamala Harris is “smart as a devil and has a backbone like a ramrod.”

In an interview with CBS News, Biden defended his decision to select Harris as his running mate, making her the first Black woman to run on a major political party’s presidential ticket.

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“Number one: her values. Number two: She is smart as a devil. Number three: She has a backbone like a ramrod. Number four: She is really principled. And number five: She has had significant experience in the largest state in the union, running a Justice Department that’s only second in size to the United States Justice Department,” Biden told CBS News.

In the interview, Harris herself said that being the first woman of colour, the first woman as vice president, may change things.

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When asked about what role she would play in Biden’s administration, Harris said, “One of the first things he said was, ‘I want you to be the first person in the room and the last person in the room’.”

The 56-year-old vice-presidential candidate also criticised President Donald Trump for “racism and white supremacy” and refuted the allegations that her policies are socialist in nature.