Born the year the US outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, sex and national origin, Kamala Harris has finally come within touching distance of realising the loftiest American dream—that the child of an immigrant can rise to the highest office. It’s true that Harris’s path had unforeseeable turns. But roads often fork out for politicians when someone else’s fallibility becomes apparent. So after Joe Biden, 81, faltered on the debate stage in June and his cognitive struggles became more public, all eyes turned to Harris, 59.
Biden read the writing on the wall, took the temperature on the support for Harris, held the line till the Republican convention ruled the news waves and then let go. Now, one of the easier tasks for Harris would be to win her party’s formal nomination. As poll-watcher Elaine Kamarck explained, no one apart from Biden and Harris knows most of the 4,000-odd party delegates who will choose their flag-bearer at next month’s convention in Chicago. One sign of support was that in the 24 hours after Biden threw in the towel, the Democratic online fundraising platform processed a prodigious $93 million. Party heavyweight Nancy Pelosi has declared her support for Harris is “official, personal and political”. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, lightning rods for their flocks in Congress and donors outside, have stopped short of endorsement for now. As has former President Barack Obama, the grand piper of the congregation.
Harris’s real tests will be against time and Donald Trump. American voters have seen Harris championing abortion rights and wobbling on immigration. Now her convictions on a broad range of topics will need to be conveyed countrywide. Harris’s appeal to Black, Asian and Latino voters—who had started drifting away from Biden—will be invaluable. She also inherits Biden’s substantial campaign apparatus. But she has just over 100 days to bring it all in.
Then there is the stark matchup: a former prosecutor facing a convicted felon. Trump, who has been focused on re-legislating his loss to Biden for almost four years, needs to pivot away. With Biden out, the gaze of age-watchers should turn on Trump, 78, who becomes the oldest candidate in American presidential history—older than even Biden when he took oath. There is also the burden of history: when Democrats Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman stepped aside after their first full terms, Republicans moved into the White House.
Harris has already broken several glass ceilings on her way up. But can Kamala, the jewel in the Democratic lotus at the moment, smash the last one and be POTUS? Strap on your seat-belts—we are entering a 100-day race that might change American and world history.