The story of the only three women who were candidates for vice president in the United States.

Who is Kamala Harris in US politics? 1:43

(CNN) - When Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris for his presidential nomination, the California senator became the third woman to be selected as vice president by a major party in the U.S., and the first black woman to run for office. vice presidency.

Harris, a woman of black and South Asian descent, ran in 2019 for the presidency but ended her candidacy in December. She has been a senator since 2017 and was previously the attorney general of California.

Biden's announcement on Tuesday came after months of speculation and after his research team analyzed more than a dozen women. Biden pledged earlier this year to elect a woman as her vice president and was under pressure to elect a black woman.

Next week, at the Democratic National Convention, Harris will become the third woman to accept a nomination for vice president of a major party. In 2008, then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was the Republican vice presidential nominee, and in 1984, then-New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, a Democrat, was the first woman to be on a major party list.

Sarah Palin

Republican US presidential candidate Senator John McCain stands on stage with Alaska Governor, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention in September 2008 in St Paul, Minnesota.

In 2008, Palin was pulled out of obscurity by Senator John McCain of Arizona to be on the Republican ballot, astonishing the political world. Palin, a social conservative, was 44 years old, had been governor of Alaska for less than two years and had almost no foreign policy experience. She was elected the same year that Biden was selected as Barack Obama's running mate.

Palin began her political career when she was elected to the Wasilla, Alaska city council in 1992. She later became mayor of Wasilla, which had a population of more than 5,000 at the time. She unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor of state in 2002 and was later named chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates oil and gas resources.

In 2006, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and later defeated former Governor Tony Knowles in the general election. She became the youngest person and the first female governor of Alaska.

Palin, a self-described “hockey mom,” joked in her fierce acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention: “Do you know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick". Her instantly successful speech propelled her onto the national stage and made her a celebrity overnight.

After a wave of national attention, Palin began to receive increased scrutiny and criticism. About $ 150,000 was spent on her wardrobe after McCain announced it as her choice, raising questions about her image among working-class voters. Palin also had a number of errors in media interviews.

For example, he said in an interview that Russia could be seen from the ground in Alaska, and that moment was recreated on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" by comedian Tina Fey, who while playing the character uttered the infamous phrase, "I can see! Russia from my home! ». Palin was also mocked by some after CBS's Katie Couric pressured her to name a newspaper or magazine that she regularly read, and she didn't.

Following the defeat of McCain and Palin, Palin announced in 2009 that she would resign as Governor of Alaska. She was the keynote speaker at the first National Tea Party convention in Nashville in 2010. She became a political commentator on Fox News and starred in reality television shows about herself and her family. Palin remained open to a run for the White House in 2012, but announced in late 2011 that she would not run.

Geraldine ferraro

Then-Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Walter Mondale, introduces his running mate, Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, before the Democratic convention.

Twenty-four years before Palin's nomination, Ferraro, a Democratic congresswoman from Queens, New York, broke political barriers by becoming the first woman on a major party list.

Ferraro grew up in New York City and worked as a public school teacher and later as an attorney. In the 1970s, she joined the Queens County District Attorney's Office and later ran a new special victims office that she helped form that dealt with sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence.

In 1978, Ferraro was elected to the United States House of Representatives. While in Congress, she focused on legislation that fights for economic equality for women.

When Walter Mondale, who had served as Vice President to President Jimmy Carter, chose Ferraro as his running mate, she became not only the first woman to be nominated by a major party in the US, but also in the first Italian-American to do so.

Ferraro was a dynamic presence in the election campaign, and his nomination encouraged Democrats at the party's national convention. But during the campaign, she faced damaging questions about the alleged financial misconduct of her husband, John Zaccaro.

In the end, the candidacy did not garner enough widespread support and Mondale and Ferraro were overwhelmingly defeated by then-President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George HW Bush.

Ferraro ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1992 and 1998, losing the Democratic primary in New York both times. She served as an ambassador for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights during the administration of President Bill Clinton. In 1996 and 1997, she co-hosted CNN's "Crossfire," then appeared as a commentator on Fox News.

Ferraro died at age 75 in 2011 while being treated for blood cancer.