Tampa's Casa Biden witnesses history in first swearing-in of female vice president
TAMPA, Fla. - Cheers erupted at Tampa’s Casa Biden as President Joe Biden took the oath of office before noon Wednesday.
But just moments before, there were tears as a moment in history was witnessed. Kamala Harris became the first female vice president of the United States.
"I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say today is just a day of so many emotions," said Angelique Mathena.
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Mathena, a Biden-Harris supporter, looked on with tears in her eyes. She admits, those feelings went as far back as 2016.
"I just started thinking about when we were getting ready on election night four years ago," she said. "With our glasses of champagne to celebrate the first female president, and as we all know, that’s not what transpired that evening."
Biden, Harris participate in wreath-laying ceremony with former presidents
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were joined by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and their spouses at a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
What did transpire Wednesday were many firsts. Harris was not just the first woman. She was also the first black and South Asian person to be vice president.
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Harris used two bibles to take her oath today, one that belonged to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the late civil rights icon.
U.S. President Joe Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Douglas Emhoff, husband of U.S. Vice President Harris, attend a Pass in Review ceremony, hosted by the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region on the East Fro (Getty Images)
"To see how meaningful it was," Mathena said. "Not only was it a woman coming to power, but a woman of color coming to power."
The moment was etched into history as she was escorted before the ceremony by capitol police officer Eugene Goodman, the officer who led rioters away from the senate chamber two weeks ago.
In her victory speech back in November, Harris told the public while she may be the first woman in the office, she will not be the last.
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill, walk out for the the 59th inaugural ceremony on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today's inauguration ceremony Joe Biden becomes