For years, Kamala Harris faced criticism that she was not qualified to run for the US presidency despite being one step away from it. Now, she sees herself as the Democrats’ best hope of preventing a return to power from Donald Trump.
Despite setting a new dimension as the first female, Black and South Asian vice president in the country’s history, the 59-year-old Democrat has long struggled with approval ratings as bad as or worse than those of President Joe Biden.
However, the past 12 months have seen a change in Harris.
And with her endorsement of Biden, who stunned the world by withdrawing his re-election bid on Sunday, she is suddenly on the cusp of history.
In a statement praising Biden’s accomplishments in office — it was “unmatched in modern American history,” she said — Harris vowed to “earn and win” the nomination.
“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our country — to defeat Donald Trump,” she said.
Harris will hope she has worked hard to secure her party’s full support amid the political crisis.
The aging Biden’s image had looked visibly faded over the past year, but his “vice president” emerged as a force in the campaign, pushing for abortion rights and reaching out to core voters, including suburban women and Black men.
With his penchant for F-bombs and his family’s nickname “Momala” going viral, he has finally begun to reach out to voters who previously paid little attention.
Harris has won praise in party circles by remaining loyal to the 81-year-old president, while political vultures are eyeing her candidacy.
Now it appears he will face Trump — a fierce contest with a candidate who defeated Hillary Clinton in her 2016 bid to become the first female president.
‘Ready to serve’
The child of immigrant parents — her father was from Jamaica and her mother from India — Harris grew up in an activist family in Oakland, California, where she attended her first rallies carrying a stroller.
Her focus on rights and justice helped her build an impressive CV, making her the first black attorney general of California and the first woman of South Asian descent to be elected to the US Senate.
Harris then ran against Biden in the 2020 primaries. In one scathing attack, she criticized Biden for allegedly opposing moving students into segregated schools.
“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate their public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me,” he said, launching a scathing attack on his future boss.
But as his running mate, she strengthened the coalition that helped defeat incumbent Trump in 2020.
His transfer to the White House proved difficult, however.
Critics say she held a position that had been confusing to many incumbents and in which she found many flaws.
Struggling to carve out her role, Biden tasked her with getting to the roots of the country’s illegal immigration problem, but she failed to do so and then became defensive in response to a question during a visit to the Mexican border.
The unusually high number of staff turnover led to rumors of discontent in the Vice President’s Office.
And Republicans — who often resort to stereotypes labeled sexist and racist by his supporters — have repeatedly attacked him for being unfit to hold office if the worst happens to America’s oldest president.
Harris told The Wall Street Journal in February: “I’m ready to serve. There’s no question about it.”
‘Momala’
Things started to change as the 2024 race began.
The Biden campaign repeatedly deployed Harris in battleground states to drive home the party’s message on abortion rights; she became the first vice president to visit an abortion clinic.
Gradually, she began to attract a more active and enthusiastic crowd.
However, some people have said things that were embarrassing. Earlier this year, she was mocked when she told chat show host Drew Barrymore that her family sometimes calls her “Momala”, and Barrymore replied, “We need to be the country’s Momala.”
But voters now seem to be in its favor.
A clip of her in which she frequently quotes her mother saying, “Do you look like you fell from a coconut tree?” became a meme, and supporters grew to believe that her time had come.
If Harris is elected, she will break one of the highest barriers for women in the United States — that of holding the nation’s top office.
Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, is also moving on to a new path, moving from the current second gentleman to the country’s former first gentleman.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
