In run-up to elections, Kamala Harris is changing America’s political landscape

Here are a few numbers that help understand how rapidly America’s political landscape has changed since President Joe Biden gave up his bid to run for a second term just 107 days before the November elections and endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris.

She hit the ground running with a speed and efficiency few in her Democratic Party would have predicted and left many in the Republican Party awed and bewildered.

The de-facto presidential nominee of the Democrats set a string of records. Within 24 hours after Biden’s announcement, the Harris campaign netted the largest fund-raising haul ever in that time period: $81 million. By the end of the week, contributions totalled $200 million, from 1.4 million donors, according to the campaign.

Roughly two-thirds of those who opened their wallets did so for the first time in the 2024 election cycle – a sign of enthusiasm and hope from voters who had feared the 81-year-old Biden could not lead the Democrats to victory.

On the Sunday (Jul 28) after Biden’s announcement, a group called Win With Black Women hosted a video call to support Harris and was joined by 44,000 people who pledged more than $1.5 million to her campaign. Four days later, a similar call aimed at white women attracted 160,000 participants and brought in $8.5 million.

“Kamala Broke Zoom,” proclaimed the headline over a cable news story which described the event as a world record.

Determined to keep the momentum, Harris wasted no time to hit the campaign trail. Her first stop was in Milwaukee, just a week after the end of the Republican National Convention at which former president Donald Trump formally accepted his party’s nomination as its presidential candidate.

The mood at the RNC was joyous. Trump had survived an assassination attempt a few days before the convention and he and most of his followers ascribed his survival – a bullet nicked his ear – to divine intervention. Party faithful and many political analysts predicted that election victory was all but certain.

Few could have imagined that boisterous crowds of fired-up Democrats would chant for a Harris victory in the same city a few days later.

While she is not the official Democratic nominee yet – that will happen at next month’s Democratic National Convention – she has been endorsed by every single party heavyweight, from former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

Also read | Kamala Harris raised $200 million in first week of presidential campaign

Unlike Trump, Harris has yet to pick a running mate for the campaign. With just over 100 days to go, time is of the essence but so is thorough vetting and careful consideration. That has become obvious with Trump’s choice of his running mate, JD Vance.

His controversial statements on the role of women and the size of families have made headlines around the country and the world, creating cartoons and social network memes.

The most damaging comment came from an interview with the right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson while he was running for the Ohio Senate seat in 2021. The video clip surfaced a few weeks ago and has circulated dozens of times. Vance said: “We’re effectively run in this country – via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs – by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they have made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

As statements causing offence to millions of potential voters go, this ranks very high on the list. About a third of all households in the US own at least one cat and their number is estimated at 93 million. There are no statistics on how many cat owners are childless women but one angry woman reacted with a social network posting of a photograph of music superstar Taylor Swift with her cat draped around her neck.

If Kamala Harris were to beat Trump in the elections, she would follow up her “firsts” in Zoom calls and fundraising with more firsts. She would be the first female and bi-racial president – her mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican.

Watch | US Presidential Race: Trump & Harris renew attacks at weekend campaign events, race enters new phase

The Trump campaign no longer scoffs at the idea of a Harris victory and neither do conservative pundits or even the Wall Street Journal, America’s most widely circulated conservative newspaper. Its Sunday edition carried a front-page story headlined Harris Erases Trump’s Lead. Sub-headline: WSJ poll shows race effectively tied with three months to go after Biden’s exit.

On the opinion page of the same issue (July 27), veteran columnist Peggy Noonan, whose insightful writing is widely respected across the political spectrum, headlined her piece The Kamala Harris Surprise and wrote “I had long thought Kamala Harris couldn’t beat Donald Trump. That’s wrong. She can. We’re a 50-50 country, each side gets 40 going in, you fight for the rest but it can always go either way.”

In the Democrats’ favour in the rhetorical battle over the next few month is an argument the Republicans have used endlessly to attack Biden: his age. At 81, so the chorus went, he was too old to serve another four years. Now, Trump, at 78, will be the oldest person in US history to run for the presidency. Kamala Harris is 59.

(Disclaimer: The writer's views do not represent those of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)