Can Kamala Harris overcome her challenges?

A rendition of the Kamala Harris for President campaign logo: Illustration created by Renee Johnston

Newark, NJ - The Democratic National Convention has held its standard virtual roll call and Kamala Harris has solidified her top spot on the Democratic Party ticket. After months of fear-mongering that democracy is at risk, the Democrats invoked the very layered and opaque delegate process to appoint a nominee not listed as a choice on any primary ballot, given she filed to run for president on July 21, 2024, the day Biden dropped out of the race. 

Is there room for an “off-trend” view of Harris’ road to victory? 

The decision to replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate is par for the course. Democrats see themselves as the party of democracy and the people, but they often struggle to enact actual policies that align with those ideals. Voters who did not support Harris in 2019 will not find much change in her 2024 campaign. 

Current polls show Harris having a slight lead over Trump in national polls. This could be a win for the DNC’s key campaign strategy of fear-mongering; which is supported by pushing the lesser evil trope and downplaying the Trump policies that the Biden-Harris administration continued despite being unpopular under Trump. As long as the Democratic Party can point to Agenda 47 and Project 2025 as the greater evils, a Harris-Walz campaign will not need to present any comprehensive policy agenda. Further, as long as the corporate media narrative supports this plan, voters will continue to be presented only with a Trump versus Harris option.

Will the Democrats change? 

There is no need to change their playbook. 

2016 and 2020 were critical campaign years for the Democratic Party — both in terms of party leadership and the role of the big donor. In 2020, this power alliance designated Biden as the candidate most likely to beat Trump. By then, Harris had already ended her campaign, citing "financial resources" as the reason. And in the days following her announcement, media outlets omitted reporting on low polling numbers or that Harris had no promised delegates, in fact she was a projected fifth-place finish in her home state of California. 

It is not unusual for the mainstream media narrative to fail to remind voters how unpopular Harris was during her presidential run — recounting only her taking Joe Biden to task regarding busing — a chastisement she quickly overlooked when exuberantly accepting the nomination for vice president on August 11, 2020.

Graphic by Renee Johnston

Does the “Vote Blue No Matter Who/K-Hive” have it wrong? 

There is likely nothing Harris can do wrong. Neither her self-proclaimed title of “Top Cop” nor her criminalization of the Black community as Attorney General. Under the Biden/Harris administration, while pushing the Safer America Plan, the nation saw an annual increase in murders by police (1,186 in 2021; 1,266 in 2022; and 1,352 in 2023 - https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/) resulting in condolence performances, as we saw after the police killing of Sonya Massey. The accompanying demands for support of Harris, because she is a “Black woman,” require an unearned blind faith, when in fact her political actions do not support the livelihood of Black women. 

The addition of Tim Walz to the Harris ticket as VP affirms a democratic campaign agenda that supports the continuation of the “police state”. Walz is the Minnesota Governor who set the state National Guard onto residents protesting the murder of George Floyd and racist police violence under cover of “public safety.” Within days of that decision, protestors were viciously attacked by law enforcement agents. A decision which was fully supported and praised by Trump in  2020. 

The VP choice solidifies the foreign policy position of the current Biden administration, which will likely continue Biden's militarization policies abroad. Harris recently expressed her “unwavering commitment” to Israel. Walz, who has been very clear regarding his support of Israel, is unlikely to push for a change in the current US position. However, this is a challenge with the Uncommitted Campaign, which earned almost three-quarters of a million votes during the Democratic primaries. 

What should voters consider? 

The lesser evil scare tactic will succeed as long as the voter's memory is short, mainstream media's complicity continues, and organizing around electoral politics fails to elucidate the consistency of policies created, supported, and implemented by both parties. Understanding this will enlighten voters on how little changes as the country’s administration alternates between these two political parties. The possibilities for political education are endless, and organizers must work to dismantle propaganda rather than just mobilizing for ballot access and then for votes in November. 

This campaign is selling a previously unpopular candidate who supports cops, capitalism, imperialism, and genocide. Further, Harris and Walz are running on the ticket of a political party that works with its “opponent” to prevent any significant improvement to the material conditions of the majority of people in this country. For the next three months, the duopoly candidates will scream about freedom and democracy while being entirely antithetical to both. There are other options worth considering because, simply put, Kamala Harris ain’t it, and Walz does not help.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Public Square Amplified.