While the debate over Joe Biden’s future has raised many questions, it has made one thing much clearer. It is time for Americans to get used to the idea of President Kamala Harris.
Democrats who believe that their party should stay the course with Biden as candidate frequently make the argument that if it became impossible for him to continue with the campaign or as president, Harris would be ready to assume the reins of power.
A widely circulated Google document, entitled “Unburdened by What Has Been: The Case for Kamala,” has caused quite a stir among Democrats and on social media. The buzz around Kamala may only increase given the distinctly lukewarm-to-negative response to Biden’s ABC News interview Friday night, which, far from reassuring his supporters, has done little to silence calls for him to withdraw from the race.
For her part, Harris has loyally reinforced the image of the strengths of the team by offering strong support for the president, both in public and in private, as on last week’s White House staff call to ease fears, and firm up a common message concerning the current controversy.
For those who think it is time to move on from Biden, once again, Harris is the leading answer. A recent CNN poll suggested that a substantial majority of Americans believe Democrats would have a better chance of beating Trump without Biden, while Harris performed slightly better than Biden in a hypothetical matchup with Trump. Other polls have shown similar results.
Harris has notable advantages over other candidates: She is already vice president and offers continuity with the current administration, so it would be easier for her to maintain access to funds raised for the Biden-Harris campaign; she has strong and growing support from party leaders; and she is already the acknowledged leader within the administration on issues likely to be decisive in the campaign, such as women’s reproductive freedom.
Indeed, while Harris got off to a low-key start as vice president—in part because some close to Biden made the mistake of too tightly limiting her responsibilities during the first years of the administration—in the past year, she has enjoyed great success with a much higher profile role.
For those, like me, who have followed her tenure as vice president closely, this came as little surprise. She has already distinguished herself on a wide range of issues: Harris has opened up important dialogue with countries at our southern border to reduce immigration flows at the source; she has been a leading voice for creating a plan for “the day after” in Gaza; she has helped to maintain support among our allies for the administration’s Ukraine policy; she has engaged actively on next-generation technology issues; and she has supported tougher gun control laws while serving as an exceptionally effective champion on women’s issues and on issues pertaining to communities of color.
I have watched the vice president take wide-ranging questions in small group settings, and it has long been clear to me that she has not only mastered her brief but that she has grown more comfortable expressing herself in her own voice, becoming a powerful communicator. She can also do one thing that many politicians do not do well—listen—while at the same time drawing on the skills she developed as a prosecutor and a senator to serve as an advocate.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris raise their hands as they stand on a White House balcony with first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff during an Independence Day celebration in Washington, U.S., July 4, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
For all the above reasons, it should be obvious that if Biden remains in the race, Harris will have to play a bigger role in the campaign. If he drops out, she is by far his most likely successor. In fact, right now, of the 333 million people in the United States, she is one of just three with a good chance of becoming the next president.
This is partly, of course, because she is the next in line to the presidency. The current debate about Biden’s age and health have brought an uncomfortable issue more into open conversation. America has never had a president as old as Biden, and he is facing a next term that would continue until he was 86 years of age. It is not unreasonable to assume, therefore, that Harris might be called on to assume the presidency at some point— temporarily or permanently.
For all these reasons, supporters of Biden and the Democrats are not the only ones who find themselves seriously weighing Harris’ ability to serve as president. Donald Trump is also now taking shots at her, a clear sign that he sees her candidacy as a threat. In a leaked video, he is seen attacking her. He also went after her on social media with one of the juvenile nicknames he gives those with the temerity to challenge him, and with a snide crack about a relationship she had with a California politician.
Harris is in many ways Trump’s worst nightmare as a rival candidate. He knows that ever since the Dobbs decision, election after election has gone to the Democrats, even in red states. The fact that his administration stripped away fundamental freedoms from women, America’s majority population, is bad enough. Were he to have to run against a woman who is one of the country’s most effective communicators on women’s issues, it would surely give her an edge at the ballot box.
Further, it does not help that Trump is not only the man behind the end of Roe v. Wade, but he is also an adjudged rapist and serial sex abuser who has recently been implicated in more horrors by the release of records associated with the case against his one-time friend, the pervert, pedophile, and sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
In short, Trump is a disgusting pig with the most anti-woman record of any major politician in U.S. history. Running against a woman now would be a disaster for him.
“Perceptions about Kamala Harris have been evolving, and appreciation for her has been growing for some time now. But the post-debate debate about Biden’s future has dramatically accelerated those reassessments”
— David Rothkopf
While there are those who may argue against Harris’ candidacy because of the historical misogyny of American voters, that case seems to have faded in recent years. While Trump did beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, it is important to remember she won the popular vote. Further, of course, America finally did elect a woman on a national ticket in 2020—Harris. Then there are all those races post Dobbs that have mobilized women nationwide as an even more effective voting block. And there is, as noted, the fact that since being elected in 2016, Trump has lost a legal case in which a jury concluded, in the view of the judge in that case, that Trump was a rapist.
Perceptions about Harris have been evolving, and appreciation for her has been growing for some time now. But the post-debate debate about Biden’s future has dramatically accelerated those reassessments.
If Biden remains in the race, Vice President Harris will have to play a much bigger role in the campaign. Inevitably, given that discussions about his age will remain central from now until election day, consideration of her role as a potential successor will over the next few months grow even more intense. If he drops out, of course, she is the one most likely to be the Democratic nominee for president.
If Biden wins, given his age, there will be a sense of fragility that will give her vice presidency unusual weight. If Harris runs, given Trump’s grotesque defects and her strengths, she has a very good chance of winning.
Even if Biden does not win, Harris will remain atop the very short list of potential Democratic candidates for president in 2028. (Since Truman, every Democratic vice president but one has ultimately become the party’s presidential candidate.) Which means that the prospect and promise of a Kamala Harris presidency is likely to be with us for a very long time.
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