US elections: What challenges await Kamala Harris as VP nominee

NEW DELHI: Senator Kamala Harris scripted history on Wednesday at the virtual Democratic National Convention as she became the first Black woman and also the first Indian-American to accept the nomination for vice-president from a major political party in the US. Like every vice-presidential candidate, Harris will be judged in the coming weeks in a multitude of ways. Here is a look at five challenges she must face:
Making people vote in a pandemic
Harris will be tested for her skill as a campaigner and her skill at drawing in President Donald Trump, debating Mike Pence and exciting turnout among voters — particularly younger voters and progressives — who might not be overly enthusiastic about turning out in a pandemic to support Democrats' presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Convincing young minority voters — will be key to Biden’s campaign to win back key swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In 2016, Trump carried by a collective 77,744 votes in these swing votes and these victories were enough to swing the electoral college in Trump's favour even though he lost the nationwide popular tally by nearly 3 million votes. The Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairman Mark Pocan of Wisconsin hoped that Harris’ addition to the Democratic ticket will help energise voters in the state’s urban centres such as Milwaukee and Madison.
Standing against deep biases
For the first time in US history, a Black woman is running for VP office on a big party ticket. While it is a historic nomination, it is also a challenge.
As a woman of colour seeking an office held only by white men so far, Harris may also be judged by some in ways that reflect deep-seated biases that remain strong in certain segments. Harris took this subject on directly for her Democratic audience while speaking at Wilmington and said, “We must elect a president who will bring something different, something better, and do the important work. A president who will bring all of us together — Black, white, Latino, Asian, Indigenous — to achieve the future we collectively want. We must elect Joe Biden."
Attracting the younger generation
After a primary that was dominated by two white men and one white woman, all over 70 years old, the nomination of a 55-year-old woman of colour signalled that the Democratic Party’s leadership is catching up with the demographic changes that have swept the country.
Observers say Harris could help the ticket expand its generational appeal, engaging Americans who feel it’s time for a new guard even as some older voters have indicated that they are comfortable with Biden’s centrist views and promises to restore civility and stability to the government.
Facing criticism of her pre-senate career
While Harris identifies herself as a Black woman, she has also faced criticism for her pre-Senate career as a prosecutor and attorney general of California for being too harsh on non-violent crime during a tenure that disproportionately harassed black people.
And while Harris has largely backtracked from her previous support for modern policing operations in the US, the skeletons remain in her political closet and heavily contributed to the failure of her own presidential campaign December last year.
Briahna Joy Gray, who worked as Bernie Sanders’ former national press secretary explained this sentiment in a tweet saying, "We are in the midst of the largest protest movement in American history, the subject of which is excessive policing, and the Democratic Party chose a ‘top cop’ and the author of the Joe Biden crime bill to save us from Trump. The contempt for the base is, wow."
And, defeating Donald Trump
While the far left of the Democratic Party had earlier openly criticized Harris and decried her as an untrustworthy “cop” whose overtures to the left were deemed half-hearted and opportunistic; but the Harris sceptics are now hoping that just as Biden has already welcomed progressive input in his campaign, Harris, too could be convinced to push in their ideological direction. All for defeating Trump.
In the face of Democrats' hunger to defeat Trump, the many reasons that make Harris' nomination historic have submerged the criticism against her. But if the Democrats win, then the picture will change again. Harris will need to finesse the divide or risk a primary from the left should the time come when she is the one running for president.