In the run-up to Election Day, President Biden, apparently staggered under the weight of his own rhetoric, fumbled a debate so grievously that he was compelled to step aside. This paved the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to take the hot seat, shaking up the race. With the sudden advent of Ms. Harris into the fray against the formidable ex-President Donald J. Trump, despondent Democrats tried to rally. By autumn, she had barely managed to salvage Biden’s abysmal polling status, turning a sure Trump triumph into a contest hanging by a thread.
Thrusted unwillingly into the spotlight, Vice President Kamala Harris attempted to spearhead a presidential campaign in an incredibly short span of four months against Trump, a political powerhouse. Cramming a campaign into this tiny window carried its drawbacks. She was cornered into adopting a campaign strategy that she did not formulate herself, and her attempts to outline her policy appeared rushed. She scarcely had time to alleviate voters’ fury over Biden’s mishandling of the inflation issue.
Although her hurried campaign was plagued with issues, it did have its upshots. Democratic fundraising received a minor boost, and her adversaries had limited time to dig into her past. Additionally, she was saved from a potentially chaotic primary contest. That said, Harris seemed to flounder when asked to differentiate her administration from the widely criticized Biden’s, sketching a vague picture of a change for which her plans were scarcely defined.
Throughout the campaign, Harris presented herself as a symbol of unity, capitalizing on her historic role as the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to lead a major party into a presidential race. At the Democratic convention, she showcased herself as a model politician, having honed her values during her prosecutorial career. She also managed to corner Mr. Trump in their solitary, and expectedly fiery, debate.
On a fateful day, anxieties about Biden’s age and fitness for office took center stage when he bungled his performance at a debate against Trump. The clamor for his withdrawal grew louder. Harris, however, remained a staunch ally, going beyond publicly supporting him and allegedly doing so in the background as well. This only threw her under the spotlight as the potential replacement for the faltering president.
The anticipated occurred when Biden announced his withdrawal from the race, following substantial pressure from key Democrats. Almost immediately, he announced his endorsement for Ms. Harris. The Democratic party more or less united behind her, despite some simmering internal discontent. Now she had to face an unpredictably taxing test of her career. Elevated from Biden’s shadow to the forefront abruptly, she faced an energized crowd of fervent supporters at rallies.
To establish her credentials in foreign policy, she convened significant meetings with global leaders like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. From being a sidelined VP, Harris had lunged towards the heart of action. Her key decision now was picking a running mate. This typically lengthy process had to be concluded within weeks. Finally, she chose Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, a relative outsider in national politics, who she reportedly took an instant liking to.
The Democratic National Convention awarded Ms. Harris a golden opportunity to familiarize herself with voters. Buoyed by the surprise of her own nomination, she predicted a revitalized era of Democratic leadership, albeit with no concrete plans for the same. A photo of Harris’s young niece, looking up at her Aunt, likely left the most enduring impact.
During a September 10 debate, Harris, leveraging her prosecutorial background, arguably turned the tables on Trump. She even teased his hypersensitivity about the size of his rallies, leading to his refusal to participate in another debate. However, the Harris campaign struggled to cater to traditional Democratic demographics like young voters, African Americans, and Latinos, whose support for her was lukewarm.
Ongoing protests against American support for Israel in the Gaza war often trailed Ms. Harris and interrupted her speeches. Even though she expressed more sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians than Biden did, she made no calls for a different strategy. As disruptions at her rallies became routine, Harris introduced a standard response aimed at quelling them.
During the last phase of the election, Harris attempted to lure moderate Republicans and independents from suburban areas, specifically females. She spearheaded campaigning severally with Liz Cheney, a Trump critic, across the Northern battlegrounds and opened up more about her faith. Seeing an opportunity among voters who previously supported Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, Harris attempted to balance the declining support from working-class Black and Latino males.
As the election reached its climax, Harris enlisted the support of some of the most influential personalities in her party, including Barack and Michelle Obama, and celebrities like Bruce Springsteen and Beyoncé. Her rallies, which aimed to ramp up the vote, drew massive crowds. Her final speech, held at the location where Trump incited his supporters to riot, attracted approximately 75,000 people.
Notwithstanding the truncated timeline, Harris strived to cover every battleground state, altering her schedule according to data that indicated she could spur voter turnout. She tried to drive daily coverage by holding quick meet-and-greets with reporters and attacking Trump. At the heart of her campaign was the notion that she could act as a unifying force for the nation whilst painting her opponent as a self-centered authoritarian.
Now, with the voting at an end, it rests in the hands of those in key battleground states to decide if Trump is reinstated or if the nation will see its first female president. Despite the uphill climb she faced, Harris attempted to recast Biden’s shortcomings under her leadership, a task that proved to be an uphill battle.