Trump Opponent’s Gambit: This Woman Is His Key

Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for U.S. president, promised a few months ago that he would choose a woman as a candidate for vice president. He chose cleverly. Kamala Harris is a combination of political assets that Democrats want to use to win in the fall election.

It could not have been any different, not in the era of Donald Trump, who is regarded by many Americans — especially progressives — as a chauvinist who disrespects women. From the very beginning of the current president’s term, women were one of the groups who most clearly rejected his political style. Biden needed a woman by his side so that this energy wouldn’t dissipate at the ballot box.

We finally got to know the name: Harris, the senator from California, was the choice.

A Symbol of America’s Future

Starting with the historical aspect of Biden’s choice. Harris is the first nonwhite woman to run for such a high office with the support of either of the two main parties. In addition, the senator’s parents were immigrants. They arrived in San Francisco from places that had relatively recently been liberated from British occupation. Harris’ mother was from India, and her father was from Jamaica.

They both chose an academic career. Harris’ mother was involved in breast cancer research, and her father researched the economics of developing countries. The couple was involved in radical campus politics. Some of the senator’s first memories were the demonstrations that her mother took her to in a baby stroller.

Harris grew up at the interface of two minority groups: African Americans and Indian Americans. She has always cared about maintaining relationships with these communities, and maintained relationships with her family in India. Though she could have chosen any American university, she opted for Howard University in Washington, D. C., one of the universities that, during a period of racial segregation, could educate Black people, serving as an incubator for African American elites.

Harris’ candidacy, like Barack Obama’s, is a promise of a United States of the future, a country that is no longer white by default. Where the paths of social advancement and even access to the highest positions in the nation are open to everyone, regardless of skin color, including immigrant children. After Harris’ nomination, many voices appearing online — mostly from South Asian Americans — said, “the nomination of Harris is a confirmation of my faith in the American dream.”

Always Rather in the Center

At the same time, Harris is a cautious choice. The California senator is a party centrist, quite close to Biden. Her entire career shows that she is certainly not a revolutionary ready for open confrontation. Instead, she is someone who, if anything, seeks far-reaching reforms, beginning with building broad alliances that include ties with the establishment.

This was evident from the first positions Harris held in public office: San Francisco district attorney and then California attorney general. In the United States, these positions are elected and have a strong political dimension. While working in these positions, Harris rejected calls for the death penalty, and often said that that crime does not need to be fought hard, but wisely.

On the other hand, with respect to several controversial issues in which she could have made a real difference, she remained deeply conservative, especially in areas such as drug policy or California’s “three strikes” law, which provides for sentencing people to life imprisonment for a third offense, even if it is relatively minor.

Recently, as the entire United States was engulfed in protests against police violence against Black citizens, Harris joined them and offered support. However, she followed the changing current of public opinion rather than leading the way.

From the Middle or from the Left Flank?

Left-leaning Democrats have criticized Harris’ work as a prosecutor, who will not receive the nomination of the California politician with enthusiasm. The progressive side of the party hoped that Biden, a centrist Biden would reach out to them by selecting someone who represented their position as the Democratic running mate.

The Democratic left, despite the failure of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, has had some success in the biggest star of the current congressional term, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In this year’s primaries in many heavily Democratic districts, left-wing candidates defeated longstanding Democratic establishment candidates. The representation of left-wing Democrats in the next Congress promises to be quite significant.

Biden could not bet on Ocasio-Cortez — she is 35 years old, as required to be vice-president. However, he could have chosen someone closer to the left wing of the party, for example, Sen. Elizabeth Warren or Rep. Karen Bass. Betting on Harris, Biden and the Democratic leadership decided that Trump would be easier to beat from the center than from the left.

In the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives, not through left-wing candidates, but with centrist candidates. It was centrists who got the suburban vote, especially educated women who had previously voted Republican, but who couldn’t stand Trump and his Republican Party. The Biden-Harris duo is expected to reprise this strategy in November.

Everything in Front of Harris

What awaits Harris now? She has two tasks. First, maximize turnout among African Americans — a group whose turnout was lower than in the Obama era, and which may have helped Trump win in several key states four years ago. Second, she must prevail over Vice President Mike Pence in the debate, which could give the Democratic campaign needed energy early in the race. She should be able to do that. In contrast to Harris, Pence, an older, white religious fundamentalist seems like a voice from a distant past that most Americans do not want to revisit.

Harris can be charismatic and radiate the energy that Biden, maliciously called “Sleepy Joe” by Trump, sometimes lacks. Trump has already called the California senator a “fake Kamala”* and his campaign portrays her as a ruthless careerist. Will this image stick? Harris undoubtedly has a problem with direct, spontaneous meetings with voters; she is not the type of politician who quickly becomes your friend.

However, it can be expected that the groups for which she is a symbol of social advancement — women and minorities — will now start responding much more enthusiastically to her candidacy. As she has shown in the primaries and repeatedly in the Senate, Harris is not afraid of confrontation. If attacked, she does not retreat but counterattacks, generally with a well-prepared argument. Trump will not intimidate her. If he seeks war with Harris, he will find it.

Winning battles with the president’s team, especially when that team plans to play dirty, will also draw the sympathy of those non-Trump voters for whom Harris is not the first choice. The vice president’s position is the biggest paradox in American politics. In the worst-case scenario, it could mean four more years of a meaningless position and political death. That is why it is hard to talk about what kind of policy the vice president will pursue — the playing field will be defined by Biden and his agenda.

However, the vice presidency is also sometimes a springboard to the presidency. Biden is 78. If he wins, he will become the oldest U.S. president in history. He probably will not run for reelection. Biden admits that he wants to open the door for the next generation in the Democratic Party. The choice of Harris shows whom he sees as its leader. A senator from California may soon fight for very high stakes.

*Editor’s note: Although accurately translated, the quoted remark could not be independently sourced.