Kamala Harris is in her prime. In 2016 she became the second black woman in history to be elected to the US senate. That was just the start of her meteoric success. Four years later she became the first woman, first black and first Asian vice-president of the United States. She has one more glass ceiling left to break before becoming the most powerful woman on the planet: the first Queenager President. Her joyous cry of “freedom”, accompanied by Queen Beyonce’s anthem of the same name, feels liberating.
Harris has left Donald Trump reeling from her “shock and awe” campaign kick-off. Her approval ratings shot up 16 points in a week after she took command of Joe Biden’s failing campaign and raised $250 million in donations. Her K-Hive of loyal internet fans seized control of Instagram and Tiktok, bringing Gen Z and Gen X rushing to her side, while Trump was still grousing about Biden’s exit. Our own Charli XCX declared, “Harris is brat” and made lime green the sparkling colour of summer.
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Why does Kamala Harris matter?
Among millennials and boomers, Harris, 59, has reignited the pride and energy of women who supported Hillary Clinton in 2016. But this is no repeat of Clinton’s campaign. Formidable though she was – and remains – Clinton carried a lot of scars from her time as First Lady. At the time, I felt uneasy that the first potential woman president of the US was the wife of a former male president. I felt the same way about the constant demands for Michelle Obama to step up against Trump this year as the “break glass in case of emergency” candidate (wisely, she declined).
Harris is her own woman. She is not dependent on a man’s validation to run for the White House. The memes of her as Wonder Woman and Lady Liberty with the torch of freedom feel fresh compared to the stale images of Trump’s head superimposed on Rambo’s body. Her rallying cry is, “We’re not going back”. She has broken with Biden’s lofty but gloomy messaging, preferring to take the mickey out of Trump, 78, for being “old and quite weird”.
Is Trump scared of Harris?
This idea struck Harris long ago, when Trump played the big silverback bully in debate against Clinton. Asked how she would have handled him, she said she would have turned round and asked, “Why are you being so weird?” Trump now seems afraid of meeting her face-to-face and has cancelled a planned presidential debate on September 10. Harris immediately accused him of “backpedalling” and boasted, “I’m ready.”
Trump has doubled down disrespectfully on the insults against her, calling her a “bum” and a “low-IQ person”. He also made fun of mispronouncing her name at a rally in Wisconsin. Doug Emhoff, Harris’s loving husband and the first “second gentleman of the United States”, quickly fired back on social media that Trump would soon have to call her “Madam President”.
Even better, his first wife, Kirstin Emhoff tweeted on X: “Or [Trump] can not just call her at all,” with a smiley face. One of the most heartening features about Harris is the way her blended family, including her two adult step-children, Cole and Ella, supports her.
Republicans’ toxic masculinity vs the Queenager President
The Republican convention in Milwaukee, held within 2 days of the assassination attempt against Trump, was a man-fest epitomised by the presence on stage of grizzled wrestling champ Hulk Hogan. Trump’s appointment of JD Vance as vice-presidential running mate further emphasised the toxic masculinity of the Republican campaign, which was designed to project strength against the ailing Biden. The contrast with Harris has been entirely to her benefit.
Vance, a former Trump critic and author of Hillbilly Elegy, has been ruthlessly pilloried for his anti-abortion views, his advice that women stay in abusive marriages for the sake of their children and suggestion that people without kids should pay higher taxes. He has channelled the rather sad trauma of his own upbringing into punitive scorn and anger, provoking ridicule for a former tirade against the miserable “childless cat ladies” like Harris running America.
With this comment, Vance had foolishly attacked 3 generations of American female icons: Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift and Jennifer Aniston (who responded furiously). A new nickname, Commander Vance, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, has spread. Atwood herself posted amusingly on X: “Memes are getting very naughty!” with a picture of a cat lady saying, “Paws off my pussy”.
What are Kamala’s weak points?
Not all the election “vibes” are friendly and going her way. Harris is being trashed by some Republicans as a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hire and there are disgustingly racist and sexist caricatures of her on the internet. She has yet to face a difficult set-piece interview and has only just begun to be pounded by the Republicans with negative campaigning and television ads attacking her as a west coast liberal who is soft on crime and immigration.
Some fear that the surge in support for Harris is just a mirage. She is tied with Trump in the polls and he outpaces her on 2 key issues, the economy and immigration. These matter hugely in the largely white, working-class battleground states, such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which hold the key to victory under the US electoral college system. Running up the popular vote in New York and California, as Clinton found out in 2016, will not make her president.
Many of us saw this coming
Even so, her spectacular campaign launch has stunned many male politicians and pundits, who had dismissed her as a lightweight. I am not surprised. While she got off to a shaky start as Vice President, particularly on the immigration issue, in the past year she has scarcely put a foot wrong. She has been appearing on college campuses talking about abortion rights and Gaza, and addressing popular television programs such as the morning show, The View. During this time, she quietly crafted and refined her message.
Six months ago, I wrote an article in the New Statesman about her little-noticed “Kamalaissance” and success in winning over young, black and female voters. These groups have formed the essential backbone of her support today. After just one week of campaigning, a poll of suburban women voters – a key group for Democrats – showed her beating Trump by 52%-40%, an 8-point improvement over Biden’s performance. If women stand together, Harris could become America’s first Queenager president.
– Sarah Baxter
Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting in New York
Interesting to know that the Kamalaissance has been brewing for a while. I wonder how Vance’s comments about family are playing even among Republicans since blended families are common with voters across the parties. It’s such an old-school idea. Women are (sadly) used to this kind of debate (are you a “real mother” if you’re a stepmother; are you a “real mother” if you had a C-section; are you a “real mother” if you put your child in nursery and go out to work…). Now the Republicans seem to be doubling down and basically saying that only parents should be politicians.