Here are the facts: Kamala Harris is the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants to the US. Her parents divorced early on. She didn’t go to an Ivy League university. But she worked her way up from district attorney to attorney general of California. She became the first Indian American and second black woman elected to the US Senate. She became the first woman, and the first biracial person, to become vice president of the US. She is currently the leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. And she’s only 59 years old.
Here’s a popular caricature of her, fueled by Republican forces: Kamala Harris is weak, has an awkward personality, an embarrassing laugh, has no track record, is “dangerously liberal,” and is simply a product of “identity politics.” This caricature has circulated over the past four years, fueled at times by Harris’ political missteps, her public gaffes, a presidential campaign that collapsed before it even got off the ground, and the very nature of the vice presidency that renders incumbents unemployed.
Now, a new narrative is emerging about Harris, driven by her supporters: She is strong, smart, capable, and tenacious. No one with her profile has been more successful in American politics. No one has had as much experience at the pinnacle of the criminal justice system (Attorney General), the legislative branch (Senator), and the executive branch (Vice President). No one spans the worlds she inhabits as an Indian American, an Asian American, an African American, a Jewish American wife, and a woman who is not afraid to speak out for women’s rights, including abortion rights.
The 2024 election is now not just about Donald Trump, but also about the facts of Harris’ life, the Republican Party’s shifting caricature of her and the Democratic Party’s rhetoric around her. And in her first week since announcing her intention to run for president, Harris’ story is a winning one.
Let’s take a moment to look back at what’s happened in the past month. The debates exposed Joe Biden’s age-related weaknesses. An assassination attempt turned Trump into both hero and victim. The Republican National Convention showed Trump’s complete dominance in the party. Democrats were demoralized and gave up on the idea of a second, more radical Trump presidency. And then last Sunday, Biden withdrew and offered his party one last gift: He prevented an ugly internal infighting by endorsing Harris.
Ms. Harris continued to run on that support. That Sunday, she made 100 calls in 10 hours, winning over key progressive, black and center-left lawmakers. Her rivals for the presidential nomination quickly endorsed her, as did other Democratic elders. By Monday night, she had raised $100 million, a record $81 million in 24 hours. By Tuesday, Ms. Harris had secured the support of a majority of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention. She visited her campaign headquarters in Delaware, where Mr. Biden told his team to embrace her, held a large rally in Wisconsin, and visited Texas and Indiana. And when it came to foreign policy issues that have divided the Democratic base, she took a delicate stance. Ms. Harris refused to host a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Congress, and in a meeting with him made it clear that she would not remain silent about the suffering of the Palestinians. But by meeting with President Trump, reiterating her support for Israel’s security and condemning the protesters who waved Hamas flags, she made it clear that she would not tolerate terrorism or its excuses.
Ms. Harris’ candidacy has unified the Democratic base, for whom the preoccupation of preventing Trump’s reelection may have made gender and race less salient than they otherwise would have been. If anything, Ms. Harris’s identity has been a strength so far. Among the various groups who voiced their support in separate calls this week alone were tens of thousands of black women who see her as one of their own, black men who see her as a sister trying to make history, South Asian women, South Asian men and Indian Americans more broadly who are proud of her Indian roots, white women who applaud her stance on abortion, and Democratic-leaning Asian American, Hispanic and black political action committees that fund candidates from marginalized backgrounds.
Harris has become a star among Generation Z. She has managed to energize Silicon Valley, which is losing ground to the Trump campaign and Hollywood. And her momentum is reflected in the polls. The New York Times/Siena The poll shows Harris trailing Trump by just one percentage point, who led Biden by six percentage points.
But Harris has unified her base by disrupting the Republican Party’s carefully crafted plan centered on attacking Biden’s age, making this election competitive, but this is just the beginning of a 100-day sprint. The election depends on which of the two candidates can credibly mobilize the party’s base and win votes in battleground states. To do so, Harris must overcome at least four challenges, some of which stem from misogyny and racism. One is that most American voters may know Harris’ name but not who she is, and she has only a few more weeks to introduce herself to the public before the Republican Party finally defines her. This also means capitalizing on Biden’s track record while carefully distancing herself from his failures, including inflation.
Second, she must carefully define her position on the border, as Republicans have cast her as a “border czar” who has failed to stop illegal immigration. Dispelling this impression and proving her commitment to American sovereignty is especially important for a black woman, the child of immigrants, to appeal to white working-class and elderly voters, the only two groups with which she has less support than Biden.
Third, Republicans are positioning this election as a contest between Trump, the strong man who stood up defiantly even after being shot, and a weak woman the world mocks. How Harris presents herself as authentic and promises compassion while projecting strength (including, as she is doing now, drawing on her past as a tough prosecutor) will be key to the race.
Fourth, Harris’s stance on abortion is her greatest strength, and Trump knows that abortion is the only issue that could hurt him in this election. That’s why Republicans will try to redirect the gender debate from abortion to sexual orientation, especially transgender rights, and portray Harris as “woke.” Harris will have to find a way to maintain her commitment to both abortion and LGBTQ rights without contributing to the Republican-created delusion that American children are under threat.
Trump-Harris is the most candid expression of America’s political divisions and the strength of the conservative and liberal wings of the political establishment, which are roughly equal in strength. Neither party is apologetic about who they are. Desi As California lawyers battle each other and their vision of America, the world’s oldest democracy is revitalized.
Opinions expressed are personal
