Image source, Reuters
Rachel Lucker, Holly Honderlich, BBC News
With less than four months to go before the American presidential election in November, Vice President Kamala Harris found herself in a difficult situation.
Amid criticism that President Joe Biden, who was seeking re-election, lacked vigor and stumbled over his words during a televised debate at the end of June, concerns grew that he might not win the presidential election. As anxiety transformed into tension within the Democratic Party, Harris’s name rose to the top of the list of potential successors.
Following Biden’s announcement that he would withdraw from the campaign and support Harris as his successor, she finally achieved her long-held ambition of becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, bringing her closer to the possibility of taking the presidency.
However, the path to this point has been extremely tough and full of challenges, especially in recent months.
Four years ago, during the previous presidential election, Harris, who had once participated in the race for the Democratic nomination, would have gladly welcomed praise from within the party. However, as of July 2024, her standing had become more precarious than before, as she faced attacks from all sides while competing against other incumbents seeking re-election. Moreover, her own chance of re-election depended on Biden’s situation.
Within 24 hours of the disastrous debate at the end of June, Harris chose to demonstrate her strong loyalty to Biden.
In interviews with CNN and MSNBC, as well as during campaign rallies, Harris defended her political partner Biden’s achievements and attacked rival Donald Trump, the former president.
“We believe in the President, Joe Biden. We believe in what he stands for,” Harris said at a campaign rally.
Although support for her within the Democratic Party increased and people tried to push her into the spotlight while critics pressured Biden to withdraw, Harris remained unwavering.
Still, as the first woman, Black, and Asian American Vice President, Harris found herself with a second chance at aiming for the presidency.
In the 2020 presidential election, she struggled to appeal to voters, and her approval ratings during her vice presidency were low. However, Harris’s supporters highlight reasons for supporting her, such as her defense of women’s reproductive rights, her ability to appeal to Black voters, and her background as a prosecutor. Moreover, considering her opponent has become a convicted felon over hush money payments regarding an affair, the significance of Harris, a former prosecutor, being that opponent is pointed out by her supporters.
“(Harris) has worked hard on important issues like voting rights and immigration reform,” said Nadia Brown, director of the Women & Gender Studies program at Georgetown University.
“She has been a strong representative of Biden when it comes to ensuring women have the option of abortion or advocating for the Black community.”
Becoming Vice President
Until five years ago, Harris was a senator from California competing for the Democratic presidential nomination.
She began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office in California and became the district attorney of San Francisco in 2003. In 2011, she made history by becoming the first woman and first Black person to serve as the Attorney General of California, the state’s highest law enforcement official.
This led to her being recognized as a rising star in the Democratic Party, winning a seat in the federal Senate in November 2016. She served as a U.S. Senator from California starting in 2017.
Although she competed well in debates, her failure to articulate policy positions effectively set her back.
While her bid for the presidential nomination lasted less than a year, she was nominated as vice presidential candidate by then-presidential candidate Biden, once again placing her in the national spotlight.
Gil Duran, who served as Harris’s communications director in 2013 and criticized her candidacy for the 2020 presidential election, referred to that time as “the Kamala Harris comeback story.”
“Many people did not believe she had the self-discipline and focus to rise to a position in the White House so quickly. (Omitted) While her ambition and star qualities were known, her natural talents were always apparent,” he said.
Image source, Reuters
At the White House, Harris has focused on several key initiatives and has worked on some of the most publicized achievements of the Biden administration.
In the Senate, where the Vice President serves as President (with a total of 100 members), Harris is also the Vice President who has cast the most tie-breaking votes. Her votes as President helped pass significant legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the “American Rescue Plan,” which incorporated COVID-19 relief funding.
Meanwhile, Harris has faced various criticisms and struggled to convey her voice to the American people.
While she has a left-leaning stance on issues such as same-sex marriage and the death penalty, she has repeatedly faced attacks from some Democratic voters claiming she is not progressive enough. During the 2020 presidential election, phrases like “Kamala is a cop” were frequently heard.
Biden also asked Harris to lead responses to the root causes of immigration issues as record numbers of illegal migrants surged to the U.S.-Mexico border. Critics pointed out that immigration reform is one of the areas where Harris has not achieved significant results.
Harris faced backlash from Republican lawmakers and some Democrats over the nearly six months it took her to visit the southern border after taking office as Vice President.
However, in recent weeks, amid speculation about Biden’s ability to win the general election in November, Harris’s support base has resumed to grow.
Harris’s Diverse Identity
Harris was born in Oakland, California, to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father.
After her parents divorced when she was five, she was primarily raised by her Hindu mother. Her mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who conducted research on cancer, also participated in the civil rights movement.
Influenced by her mother, who chose Indian names for her daughters and frequently took them to India, Harris grew up aware of her Indian roots. However, at the same time, according to Harris, Dr. Gopalan Harris embraced Oakland’s Black culture in their lives. Thus, Harris grew up alongside her sister, Maya, immersed in both worlds.
“My mother understood that she was raising two Black girls,” Harris wrote in her autobiography, “The Truths We Hold.”
“The country we chose to live in should see Maya and me as Black girls. My mother knew this. And she was determined to raise us as confident, proud Black women.”
Having two racial roots and upbringing means Harris can embody and appeal to the identities of many Americans. There are several places within the U.S. where demographics are rapidly changing to the extent of transforming local political inclinations. For residents of such areas, Harris symbolizes a figure to look up to.
Image source, Kamala Harris
One of the experiences that Harris says has shaped her life the most was her time spent at Howard University, one of the nation’s premier historically Black colleges.
Rita Rosario-Richardson met Harris during her time at Howard University in the 1980s, where students gathered in an area known as the Yard to discuss politics, fashion, and gossip.
“I noticed she had a sharp sense of debate,” said Rosario-Richardson.
The two formed a bond through their ability to energetically debate with Republicans on campus, shared experiences of growing up as daughters of single mothers, and even sharing the same astrological sign.
“At the time, (Ronald) Reagan was the president, and it was during apartheid. Topics included whether to divest from South Africa and whether Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday should be a federal holiday,” she recalled.
“As descendants of enslaved people and people of color freed from colonial rule, we understood that we have a special role to play. By pursuing education, we recognized that we were given a unique position to affect change in society,” Rosario-Richardson explained. This was part of the experience that shaped Harris’s philosophy and her call to action during her time at university.
On the other hand, Harris has been able to navigate predominantly white communities with ease, having spent time in Canada and elsewhere during her youth. When her mother Dr. Gopalan-Harris started teaching at McGill University in Canada, her daughters accompanied her and attended school in Montreal for five years.
Harris claims she has never been confused about her identity, simply referring to herself as “American.”
In 2019, she told the Washington Post that politicians should not be boxed in by their backgrounds or skin color, saying, “I am who I am. I’m fine with that. Some may be confused, but I’m okay with it.”
Witty Kamala’s ‘Debate Club’
Harris exhibited her ability to break barriers early on, her friend Rosario-Richardson remarked.
“I was drawn to her fearlessness, which is why I wanted to get her on the debate team at Howard.”
Wit and humor are also part of Harris’s strengths.
When she welcomed then-President Biden, her laughter resonated, and her friend immediately realized it was the true Harris she knew.
“Even during the short campaign, her personality shone through,” she recalled.
“She was always smiling, with a sense of humor and wit. Whether in a college debate setting or anywhere else, she had the ability to get her point across.”
This ability to deliver sharp remarks in live debates helped generate the momentum to start her pursuit of the presidential nomination.
Nickname ‘Momala’, a ‘History Maker’
Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images
In 2014, during her time as a senator, she married attorney Douglas Emhoff and became the stepmother to his two children.
In 2019, she contributed an article to “Elle” magazine about her experience as a stepmother. The nickname she revealed went on to make headlines in many media outlets.
“When Doug and I got married, (Emhoff’s children) Cole and Ella and I all agreed that we didn’t like the word ‘stepmother.’ Instead, the kids came up with the name ‘Momala,'” she said.
The family has been widely recognized as a typical modern American “blended” family. The media emphasized this image as they frequently covered her family, and columns discussing how the public speaks about female politicians often highlighted this image.
However, there is also a suggestion that Harris should be recognized as a descendant of a different type of family. That is, she should be seen and acknowledged as the inheritor of generations of Black female activists.
“She inherits the legacies of numerous grassroots activists, elected officials, and even those who lost elections. They paved the way to the White House. Black women are recognized as a powerful force in democratic politics and the Democratic Party,” said Nadia Brown, an associate professor of political science and African American studies at Purdue University, to the BBC.
Brown argues that Harris has followed in the footsteps of pioneering figures like civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker, and Septima Clark.
“Her victory is historic, but it is not hers alone. It is shared with the countless Black women who made this day possible.”