After months of waiting, thousands of news articles, countless interviews on TV, and constant speculation, Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, has been selected by Joe Biden as his running mate in this election cycle. Harris beat the likes of Susan Rice, Elizabeth Warren, Val Demings, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Karen Bass, Gretchen Whitmer, and more, to claim the coveted spot.
The Office of Vice President is one of the most undervalued political offices in the United States which has only gained relevance in modern history. Only 14 office holders have made it to the presidency: eight acceded to the office on the death of their president while only four were directly ever elected to the office. It was not until the death of FDR and accession of Harry Truman in 1945 when the vice presidency was treated more seriously. We need to remember that it was originally the consolation prize for the loser of the presidential election until the rules were changed for the 1804 election (imagine if Hillary Clinton was Donald Trump’s VP). And to be honest, they do not have too much constitutional power. The only real power the veep has is as President of the Senate – being the tie-breaker vote. Their real influence now depends on how much the president relies on them and how much responsibility devolves to them.
So why are the ‘veepstakes’ covered so closely in the media? Why does Joe Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris fill so many headlines around the world? And why are so many questioning his choice? Let us break this down piece by piece and reason by reason.
WHO IS KAMALA HARRIS?
Harris was born in Oakland, California on 20 October 1964. She is the eldest of two children born to Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer researcher from India, and Donald Harris, an economist from Jamaica. Her parents met as UC Berkeley and had a shared passion for the civil rights movement. This passion was passed to their daughters. Her parents divorced when she was 7. She later moved to Montreal with her mother where she attended middle school and high school.
Harris attended Howard University in Washington D.C., a historically black college. It was here she studied political science and economics. She later attended law school in San Francisco, passing the bar exam in 1990. She was eventually recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. In 2003 she ran for District Attorney (DA) in San Francisco, being the first women elected to the position. During this time, she became close with Gavin Newsom, who was then Mayor of San Francisco and now serves as Governor of California. During her tenure, convictions jumped by 15%. She also decided against pursing the death penalty against the murderer of a San Francisco police officer, leading to mass criticism from police and the current senior senator for California, Dianne Feinstein.
She was elected Attorney-General of California in 2010, winning by 0.8% of the vote. During this time, she created an online platform for criminal justice data, Open Justice, and took action against major banks after the GFC for mass fraud against mortgage holders. However, she was also criticised for not doing enough against police brutality, something that may fuel criticism during this election cycle.
In 2016, she won the U.S. Senate seat vacated by veteran politician Barbara Boxer. Her presence on the national stage rose due to her firm critique of the Trump Administration, including Attorney-General Jeff Sessions on the Russia investigations, and during the hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She attempted to run for the presidency in the 2020 election cycle but dropped out in December 2019, later endorsing Joe Biden.
WHY IS THIS CHOICE HISTORIC?
Kamala Harris holds records for many firsts. While she may hate this being constantly raised, her political career is one of many barriers being broken.
Harris is only the third women to be chosen as a running mate to a major party candidate. She follows Representative Geraldine Ferraro (running mate to Walter Mondale in 1984) and Governor Sarah Palin (running mate to John McCain in 2008). She is the first women of colour, first African American, and first Indian American to be on a major party ticket. If she wins, she will be the first women elected to the Vice Presidency. Besides this, Harris was the first female Attorney-General of California, the first women of colour to hold the role in the entire country. She is also the third female to be a Senator for California and is the only African American in the U.S. Senate.
Kamala Harris represents a changing face for America – a country that is becoming more diverse. This is a choice that comes amid the Black Lives Matter movement. Many prominent politicians said they would not support Biden if he did not choose a black running mate. Among these was Jim Clyburn who has been a fervent supporter of Harris. He was notified by Biden prior to the announcement. Other contenders withdrew consideration for similar reasons, including Minnesota senator Amy Klobachar who was an early favourite for the role.
Even without winning, Harris has made history by being the first black women to be put on a major party ticket. It is amazing to think how much U.S. politics has changed – only 12 years ago the first black man was elected president, and it was only four years ago a woman was nominated by a major party for president.
DISAGREEMENTS BETWEEN RUNNING MATES IS NORMAL
Harris has been criticised in the media for being overly ambitious, harsh on Biden on the debate stage when she was running her own campaign, and is still lamented as the wrong choice by many vocal critics. It is worth noting that this is not the first time such criticism has happened, nor is it the last.
This is reminiscent of 1980 with the nomination of Ronald Reagan by the Republican Party. Reagan went on to select George H.W. Bush (then former CIA Director, Ambassador to the UN, and Congressman) as his running mate. However, this involved Bush walking back his criticisms of Reagan and becoming loyal to the ticket headliner. During the primaries he had criticised Reagan for “voodoo economics”, but then went on to defend these same policies. Bush was a loyalist through and through, defending his president during their eight years together in the White House. And for that, he was rewarded in 1988 with the presidency.
Biden himself had been vocal against Obama. During the 2008 Democratic Primaries, Biden competed against Obama for the nomination, only to drop out at the beginning of 2008 after coming in fifth place in the Iowa caucus. One such criticism of Obama came in a New York Observer article, with the then-senator saying:
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy… I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
Biden later apologised for the remarks. This did not preclude him from the Obama ‘veepstakes’ and he was ultimately chosen over the likes of Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Governors Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas (Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services), and Tim Kaine of Virginia (Hillary Clinton’s running mate).
For Harris, her criticism came on 27 June 2019, during the Democratic Primary debate. In this debate, Harris spoke on the issue of race and recalled Biden’s opposition to school busing in the 1970s. It was in this heated exchange she said:
“There was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day… And that little girl was me.”
Harris saw a surge in funding while Biden slipped in the polls. However, this supposedly hurt the Bidens personally, including Dr Jill Biden, who said the criticism was like a “punch to the gut.” This was on the basis that Harris and the late Beau Biden (son of Joe Biden and his late wife Neilia Hunter Biden) had worked closely together when they were Attorneys-General, her for California and him for Delaware. However, it seems all animosity has worn away, with Dr Biden tweeting “Let’s win this, together”.
DID BIDEN ACTUALLY WANT HARRIS?
Now this is my own opinion and quite a skeptical one. However, based on the delays and large list of candidates vetted, a hypothesis can be made that either:
- The Biden Campaign wanted to ensure they undertook thorough research on all potential candidates; or
- Biden wanted to avoid Harris as his running mate.
We will focus on the second one of these statements for this analysis. As previously mentioned, the Bidens were supposedly hurt by the comments said by Harris in mid-2019. She had also been in the Senate after Biden’s time in Washington, meaning he did not have a chance to work with her closely. While she had worked with Beau Biden, it does not necessarily mean she was close with Vice President Biden.
Instead, let us look at the other candidates who were on the shortlist, namely Susan Rice. The former National Security Adviser (2009-13) and Ambassador to the United Nations (2013-17) worked closely with Biden, both serving for the entire duration of the Obama Administration. Both share common interests in foreign affairs, with Rice helping push forward the Iran deal, relations with Cuba, and leading the global response to Ebola. While she did suffer criticism for Benghazi, it seems Rice continues to be a trusted adviser and partner to Biden. Although not chosen as the running mate, she is primed for a good position in a potential Biden Administration, potentially as Secretary of State.
Biden originally planned to make the decision by the end of July. This was then pushed to around 1 August, and then the second week of August. It was only reported that the decision was made 11 August, just under one week before the Democratic National Convention. It seems Biden continued to delay his choice – not make up his mind – hesitate. This begs the question whether he did actually want Harris on his ticket or if he preferred someone more trustworthy or someone he had closer connections with during his time in Washington. He had met with Gretchen Whitmer in Delaware only a few days ago, while speaking with the likes of Karen Bass and Tammy Duckworth in recent days. This paints the picture of a man who really struggled to make a choice.
By selecting Harris, Biden indicates that he wants to win by appealing to a broader cross-section. Harris is a strong debater and a good fundraiser (in spite of her failed presidential bid). In an event in early-June, Harris raised over $3.5 million for Biden, with over 1,400 donors being brought in for the fundraiser. She has also been a strong defender of Biden since her endorsement in March and has been campaigning for him actively. But importantly, Biden sees her as someone with the experience and knowledge to take over should anything happen to the 78-year-old during his tenure.
MOVING FORWARD – WHAT WILL BIDEN-HARRIS AND TRUMP-PENCE DO NEXT?
The next things to watch for will be how the events of the Democratic National Convention unfold next week. This will see Biden and Harris nominated as the official Democratic ticket in a Zoom-based, speaker-filled, conference. However, what will be more interesting is how the Trump Campaign responds to this decision. So far, Trump has criticised the choice due to her criticisms of Justice Kavanaugh, opposition to fracking, and her attacks on Biden in mid-2019. Campaign ads and emails have already emerged saying “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Would Destroy America” and others calling her “Phony Kamala Harris”.
It will be interesting to see Harris and Biden together further, what Biden will delegate to her in the coming weeks and months, and how the media will continue to write about her role on the ticket. Criticism of the candidate is always normal – but will she be objected to more scrutiny than normal or will she receive a fair assessment?
