Kamala Harris's presidential candidacy
How strong is Kamala Harris’s candidacy for president? Viewpoints from multiple sides.
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What’s happening
This week, Vice President Kamala Harris received pledged support from a majority of Democratic National Convention delegates, likely ensuring her nomination as the Democratic candidate for president. The party indicated it would formally nominate its candidate by Aug 7 through virtual voting prior to the convention on Aug 19-22.
Support for Harris as the nominee, which coalesced quickly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, includes all major Democratic party leaders including former President Barack Obama. Her campaign secured $126M in donations within the first 3 days of Biden’s announcement.
How she got here: Harris started her career in a California county district attorney’s (DA) office before becoming DA of San Francisco in 2003, where she developed a “tough on crime” reputation. She later became the first black and first female attorney general of California in 2010, going on to be elected as a US Senator in 2016. After her unsuccessful presidential primary bid in 2020, Biden tapped her to be his vice presidential running mate.
Harris, who was also the first black, female, or Asian-American vice president, would be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to be elected president.
Current policy views: Harris’s record as vice president and public remarks help inform a snapshot of some of her stances:
Abortion: Harris supports laws that would protect abortion rights at the federal level and her consistent outspokenness on the issue has arguably made it her signature stance.
Climate: Harris has a history of promoting significant climate change efforts, including staunch support for the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (2022), which allocates $370B+ to alternative energy and electric vehicles over 10 years.
Immigration: Harris was tasked as vice president to confront the underlying causes of migration from Latin America and backed legislation aimed at strengthening border security that was blocked in the Senate. She and the administration have received blame for record-high border crossings within the past year.
Foreign policy: Harris’s foreign policy stance is somewhat undefined according to observers, but she is believed to be more critical of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza than Biden and has historically supported a two-state solution.
Economy: Harris would be expected to continue a similar economic agenda to Biden, and has promoted Biden-era policies such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021), small business funding, and student debt forgiveness.
The impact of Harris’s candidacy on the race remains to be seen. As of this writing, the RealClearPolitics polling average shows former President Donald Trump with a 1.7 point edge over Harris – not far from Biden’s recent gap – although several polls have not been updated since Biden dropped out.
This week, we bring you viewpoints from multiple sides on the strength of Harris’s presidential candidacy. Let us know what you think.
Notable viewpoints
More critical of Harris’s candidacy:
Harris is too closely associated with unpopular policies of the Biden administration.
The Biden-Harris administration’s performance on immigration will be a damaging issue for Harris, with a July Gallup poll finding 55% of Americans want to see a reduction in immigration, up from 41% a year ago.
Harris has done nothing to distinguish herself from the Biden administration and will be viewed as partially responsible for its outcomes including inflation and the cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline.
In order to gain broader support, Harris would need to take more direct – unlikely – stances such as swearing off tax increases, admitting mistakes by the current administration at the border, and reversing her past support for banning oil fracking.
“Her vice-presidential tenure is associated with one of the Biden administration’s most conspicuous failures: the chaotic southern border. Nor can she escape responsibility for Mr. Biden’s other disasters, from inflation and the Afghanistan withdrawal to out-of-control spending and antienergy policies.” (Karl Rove, former advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush.)
Harris will not appeal to a wide swath of voters.
Harris has a history of being more progressive than Biden with moves such as supporting a proposed bill by Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) to outlaw private health insurance, and will need to convince swing voters she has become more moderate.
Growing up in a highly educated, elite family from San Francisco will make it challenging for Harris to relate to and win over the working-class voters that are so important in swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Harris won’t necessarily win over black voters, many of which believe liberals like Harris care more about the welfare of illegal immigrants than black communities.
Harris directed supporters in 2020 to donate to a fund that helped bail out George Floyd rioters, a move that diminishes her tough-on-crime reputation, arguably the only one that made her appear more moderate than progressive.
Harris lacks the political skill to win the election.
Distancing herself from the Biden administration and running on a distinguished agenda will be difficult for Harris to accomplish in 3 months given she lacks the political skill to tell her own story and resist pressures to conform to progressive Democrat demands.
Campaign skills are not Harris’s strong point, as demonstrated by her 2020 primary bid marked by inconsistent positioning and unhappy staff; her public speeches as vice president were also at times incoherent.
Harris is not necessarily the best candidate to beat Trump; she has had mixed success politically since narrowly beating a Republican for California attorney general in 2010 and dropping out of the 2020 presidential race, and has struggled with her vice presidential duties overseeing immigration policy.
Harris is unpopular.
Harris hasn’t polled well historically; last year, Harris had a -17 net-negative rating (i.e., when the portion of polled respondents with a negative view of an official is greater than the portion with a positive view), the worst of any vice president in NBC’s polling history.
Harris has not historically been viewed by Democrats as a leader of the party or potential leader of the country, has been at times inarticulate on her policy views, and was previously called out by her own departing 2020 campaign staff for her harsh treatment of them.
More supportive of Harris’s candidacy:
Harris can effectively speak to and promote policies on critical issues.
Harris has led the Biden administration’s efforts to promote abortion rights, which she speaks passionately on and has arguably become the most important election issue since the overturning of Roe v. Wade; she will draw a sharp contrast to the Trump-Vance ticket targeting women’s rights.
Harris’s reputation as a hard-on-crime prosecutor while serving as district attorney and California attorney general, which hurt her during the 2020 election campaign, will be an asset now during a time when voters are more concerned about crime and public safety.
As vice president, Harris conducted effective policy work at home and abroad, including her work on voting rights reform and assuring European allies of US support for Ukraine, experience that makes her a strong fit for office.
Harris will appeal to a wide swath of voters.
Harris gives voters what they’ve been asking for in polls for months – a candidate other than Trump or Biden.
Given the combination of her background and policy views, Harris will have broad appeal with the black community and women in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan.
Harris’s at-times youthful energy and willingness to lean into social media and memes – such as her campaign’s embracing of Harris being labeled “Brat” – make her appealing to young voters, an important demographic for her candidacy.
“[W]e should evaluate Ms. Harris’s full history as an attorney and politician, which makes her in many ways a natural fit for this moment. If she can reconnect with the magnetic, relentless prosecutor who swayed San Francisco juries, voters and donors, we may finally get to know — and like — the real Kamala Harris.” (Nicole Allan, private practice attorney and former senior editor at The California Sunday Magazine.)
Harris has improved her political skills and candidacy over time.
Harris, in her initial appearances since Biden’s poor debate performance, has appeared youthful, energetic, and presidential, all reasons that Trump is more afraid to face her than Biden.
In polling, Harris’s hypothetical positioning against Trump relative to Biden has improved over the course of the past year, a positive trend that suggests a strengthening of her candidacy.
Harris’s previous political wins in 2010 and 2016 for California attorney general and US Senator, respectively, demonstrate her ability to run on center-left positioning and stay on target with her messaging.
Harris is well-suited to defeat Trump.
As a former prosecutor, Harris is well-positioned to attack Trump for his legal woes such as his falsifying of business records conviction and to connect the dangers of a potential Trump presidency to recent Supreme Court decisions reducing legal liabilities for presidents.
As a black and Asian-American woman, Harris will be able to draw stark contrast to the apparent racial undertones of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
At 59 years old, Harris will inject youth into the campaign and be well-suited to target Trump on his age at 78 years old.
Other viewpoints:
To win the presidency, Harris should avoid a clean break from “Bidenism” given Biden’s existing appeal to a broad coalition of voters and effective policies he enacted such as investing in national infrastructure and signing an ambitious climate policy bill.
The Democratic party should play out a competitive candidate selection process rather than anointing Harris because it will make whichever candidate emerges victorious a stronger candidate in November against Trump.
While some have called for an open convention to determine the Democratic candidate, it would likely result in political infighting that would make the Democratic party weaker and less likely to win the presidency in the fall.
The Republican party seems to have been caught off guard by the enthusiasm for Harris and will need to search for more effective messaging strategies against her than calling her the “DEI candidate,” insulting her lack of biological children, or making fun of her laugh.
Harris would be smart to select a vice presidential candidate more moderate than her who can appeal to older, working-class, and white voters.
Harris’s presidential primary campaign defeat in 2020 does not say anything about her qualifications for president now; several presidents – including Biden, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan – lost campaigns before winning.
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From the source
Read more from select primary sources:
Full text of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021)
Full text of Inflation Reduction Act (2022)
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