Introducing Kamala Harris

It's become something of a tradition on the blog to write my initial impressions when a vice presidential nominee is chosen (with the title "Introducing X"), a tradition that even predates 2012, which is when I started writing this blog regularly (i.e. at least a couple of articles a week).  Some of those articles have aged well (I think my initial thoughts on Paul Ryan were right on), and others have aged poorly (Sarah Palin proved to be a risky bet that wasn't worth the risk).  So today, we're going to focus on Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2020.

I'll be real here-Harris was my choice in the presidential primary.  I cast a bean for her at the Minnesota State Fair in 2019, when it still seemed like she had a shot.  I don't know that I've revealed this on the blog (this year has stretched so long it's hard to remember the primaries), but I obviously didn't vote for her on Super Tuesday, since she'd dropped out (for the record, because it was clear at the time it was a Sanders v Biden campaign, I voted for Biden).  I thought her campaign was fascinating.  There are candidates who stall out because it's obvious (Gillibrand couldn't get past the Franken backers, Booker was too moderate on specific issues, Yang didn't have enough experience to get a serious look from most primary voters), but Harris was different.  I thought her campaign was solid, if at times without enough identity.  It was difficult to peg her as a moderate since she isn't one, but she didn't fall into the Warren/Sanders field, and couldn't really gain against Biden.  In an alternate reality where Sanders & Biden realized they were too old to be making this run, Harris would have been fascinating counterweight to Elizabeth Warren, but while both had their moments in the campaign, neither were able to translate that into something tangible, not just social media support.

So Harris comes into this race as a candidate whose potential probably needs some sort of stage elevation, which is what she now has.  I think she was the smart decision for Joe Biden, quite frankly.  The other women that he considered posed intriguing opportunities, but never really presented a reason to pick them over Harris.  Karen Bass didn't hold up to vetting scrutiny, Tammy Baldwin risked a Senate seat, and Gretchen Whitmer was too new to the national stage.  Elizabeth Warren cost the Democrats a Senate seat and posed the biggest risk to the "first do no harm," ethos of VP selection, and it became clear after a while that Rice being put forward was more an audition for Secretary of State than for VP.  The only other names that made me truly pause were Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Val Demings, but ultimately it was evident that it was time for the Democratic Party to support a black women on a national stage (a constituency that is the bedrock of the party), and Demings never graduated to a level that felt like selecting her would result in "Biden Didn't Pick Harris"-style headlines.  I do think, though, that both women should be watched for in future national conversations, either for POTUS or for congressional leadership (Demings is an intriguing option for a post-Pelosi/Hoyer/Clyburn House).

Harris will be a strong asset to Biden on the campaign trail (whatever shape it takes).  She's younger, more dynamic, but someone who will match the more experienced, established tone of the Biden campaign without feeling too DC.  In the first 48 hours against the woman who has been the clear frontrunner for VP for months, the attacks from the Trump campaign have been weak, and prove that they may struggle against her in the same way as they have Joe Biden.  She doesn't bring a swing state and discussion of her Senate seat is worthy of a different article, but she's a good fit.

She's also a future leader in the party now.  Were she to win, she is likely to be the Democratic nominee in either 2024 or 2028 (unlike others, I don't necessarily believe that Joe Biden is going to retire after one term, as presidents rarely give up after just one go at the office), which means that a lot of the Democrats you saw run this year (Gillibrand, Booker, Klobuchar, Hickenlooper) will be elder statesmen the next time that they have a shot at the presidency, and have seen their moment in the sun vanish, with them likely now eyeing committee chairmanships or a post-Schumer leadership.  Most generations produce maybe 1-2 presidents, and Harris is not much younger than President Obama), so this might be it for Generation X in the Democratic Party.  I feel like she's up to the job.  She is the rare choice that is both conventional and historic, possibly the most progressive Democratic VP we've had in at least sixty years, if not ever.  Should she win, she'd be the highest-ranking woman in the American government, ever, and I doubt very much that if she wins, that'll be where she stops making history.