Kamala Harris Is Meeting the Moment

How did this happen? How did Democrats do the right thing—actually, one right thing after another? As his reelection bid became increasingly untenable, President Joe Biden ended his campaign; moments later, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the new presidential nominee. Just two weeks after that, she picked the popular former high school teacher/football coach/all-around fun dad, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, as her running mate, to acclaim from across the Democratic spectrum. And perhaps most consequential of all, Democratic voters around the country united, almost ecstatically, behind Harris and Walz, showing up to their rallies in numbers usually reserved for pop stars, and putting Harris above Donald Trump in several swing-state polls. For a party that was facing the very real possibility of a landslide loss to Trump, the tide turned profoundly, and fast.

Former president Trump and his vice presidential pick, Ohio Senator JD Vance, are only helping Democrats—they are speaking in smaller venues and competing for the title of “most weird.” If you believe Trump, when people say “weird,” they mean Vance—but it’s Trump who is a serial abuser: of wives, other women, and vice presidents. Meanwhile, Harris kvells about Walz, and he about her. It heartens me to no end to see him stand up for Harris and defend her from the racist, misogynist throng that wants to bring her down. When he exhorted the audience that “We gotta have her back” at their second rally together, it almost made me cry.

This reversal of fortune is not as shocking as it seems. Many Democrats have long underestimated Harris. Remember all those pundits who argued that if Biden dropped out, she couldn’t win, and we would need an open convention? When Biden gave her his endorsement, they all looked like fools. That afternoon, the vice president ran a DNC delegate-support operation on the phone while reportedly eating pizza with anchovies. By the next day, she had all the delegates she needed to be the nominee.

It turns out that Harris is the one for the moment. Many had written her out of the pantheon of progressives, especially after she competed with Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 primaries. But that, too, was always a misreading. The Nation put Harris on its “Progressive Honor Roll” after she was elected senator in 2016. She is now reaching voters with a succinct message: Trump wants to take away our hard-won freedoms. Our freedom to have children, or not. Our freedom to vote. Our freedom to join a union.

Where Biden has been a surprise progressive president, Harris, if elected, will not be a surprise. Even as she trims her sails a bit on immigration and fracking, she is miles ahead of Biden on a number of critical issues. On climate, trade, free college, student debt, and the filibuster, she pressed for better policies before Biden, and in many cases she calls for going farther than he did. She has yet to break meaningfully with Biden’s approach to Israel’s war on Gaza, but she has sounded some far better notes. On reproductive rights, not only does she say the word “abortion”; she has also recast the issue as “reproductive justice,” which means giving people the right to actually have children if and when they want, not only through IVF but through care that will reduce maternal and infant mortality.

And for those who complain she hasn’t issued “position papers” yet: Harris was thrust into the race with no notice; it’s not surprising that she hasn’t released a full platform. But Harris’s record already tells us a lot about what her positions are. For instance, she is one of the prime architects of measures to support the “care economy,” the one that makes the larger economy work: child tax credits, paid family and medical leave, and support for the rights and wages of childcare and eldercare workers.

I have known Harris for almost 22 years. Her smarts, and her progressive bona fides, have always been underestimated. Sanders, Warren, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quickly endorsed her after Biden stepped aside. They know who she is, too. Her surge is at least partly due to the pent-up desire of many young voters, people of color, and progressives for a champion who will push a new set of values. I would vote for a ham sandwich over Trump, but many voters are desperate to win something larger—for all of us. If Harris and Walz prevail, we will.