On the morning of Wednesday, August 11th, Joe Biden officially announced his running mate for the 2020 election. “Yes Joe, I am willing to fight with you!” Senator Kamala Harris said in an online video call with the former Vice-President. This selection was a surprise to many people who thought that Biden would opt for a more moderate candidate, ideally from a swing state. Kamala Harris -to say the least- is no moderate. Her positions on almost every issue facing America are further left than most in her party. She is also not from a swing state. California (her home state) has consistently voted democrat in every presidential election since 1984, when Ronald Reagan won every state, with the exception of Minnesota.
So why did Biden pick Senator Harris? One can only speculate, but it may be a matter of fulfilling a preconceived idea of what a running mate should look like. Long before this announcement, Biden specified that he would pick a female running mate, likely one ‘of color.’ This information immediately narrowed down the list of candidates to a handful of people. It is evident that this narrowing of candidates was not established upon credentials, rather, it was the meeting of a criteria of which no one has control – race and gender.
Kamala Harris was not picked because of her record in the U.S. Senate or as a prosecutor in the state of California, she was picked because -in the eyes of the Biden camp- she fit the profile. It is a doubling down of the democrat strategy in the 2016 election of electing the first female president of the United States. This time, however, the Democrats don’t only have a female on the ticket, but a female who is also a racial minority. But does this really matter? As we saw in the 2016 election with Hillary Clinton, having the first female president was not a compelling enough reason for people to vote for her. Instead, voters paid close attention to party platforms and their proposals. Despite (then candidate) Donald Trump’s lack of eloquence, his message resonated with millions of people from both parties who felt abandoned by the establishment.
Now in 2020, as the General election draws nearer, people once again are putting aside images of what an ideal leader looks like, and replacing them with ideals of what a leader should be. More than ever, people seek leadership that will fix problems that are affecting them. Recently, these challenges have become more relevant than ever. The issues at hand are not racism and gender inequality, but fiscal and social issues that directly and indirectly affect the middle class. Voters will choose to avoid whichever threat seems more serious. Democrats think that inequality is the greatest threat to America, whereas Donald Trump and the Republican Party feel that economics collapse, abandonment of the rule of law, and foreign opponents are the greatest immediate threat to the United States.
Despite being picked for being a female minority, Senator Harris is extremely unpopular amongst minorities, especially Blacks. In polls from the democratic primaries last year, Senator Harris had in some cases less than a 5% approval rating among black voters. It is fair to assume that people’s criticism of the Biden campaign’s reasoning is not unfounded. Senator Harris has been referred to as the ‘most liberal person in the Senate.’ One week after the announcement, Joe Biden’s support among Black and Hispanic voters had a sharp drop, as well in nationwide support. Whether the selection of Senator Harris was an effective one, is yet to be seen.
