Vice President Kamala Harris is on her way to possibly becoming one of the most powerful people in the world. At the same time, in part because his rapid ascent to the Democratic presidential nomination did not involve the sustained public attention of a long presidential primary, he is generally more of a cipher to many Americans than the major party presidential nominees. So who is Kamala Harris? In this video, we turn that story over to four journalists who have covered him at different points in his career.
Kamala Harris first entered public life as an elected district attorney in San Francisco. He tried to distinguish himself from his predecessor, known for his progressive approach to crime, calling himself “criminally smart”. He spoke more clinically and quantitatively than ideologically; He talked about numbers, not ideas or politics. This continued in his later role as attorney general of California, where he was often ideologically and unwilling to take political positions. But that role made him a household name in California, and after six years as attorney general, he won the state’s U.S. Senate race.
Harris quickly became a well-known senator, but not for speech or policy. Instead he gained a reputation as the Democratic Party’s chief cross-examiner in the Senate, grilling Trump administration officials in a showdown that riled Democratic voters and sparked a movement to challenge him for the presidency in 2020. However, the Democratic Party had become more so by then. His record of being ideologically progressive, and “criminally smart,” no longer plays well with those voters. He struggled to find a political lane in the Democratic primaries and his run was short-lived. But when Democrats finally chose Joe Biden as their nominee, Biden promised to choose a woman as his running mate. And after a summer in which the death of George Floyd and mass protests sparked a national reckoning around the nation, Harris rose to the top of his list.
As vice president, Harris struggled to find a role in the administration. Biden tasked her with an overwhelming task: solving the “root causes” of undocumented immigration in the United States. It was neither his area of expertise nor his ideological strong suit, and after a disastrous TV interview, he retreated from public view. But after the US Supreme Court struck down the federal right to abortion, things began to change. Harris had an expertise and authority on reproductive rights that Biden lacked, and she became the administration’s spokesperson on the issue, putting her voice and foot back into public life.
In July 2024, an unpopular and apparently aging President Joe Biden withdrew from his re-election campaign, endorsing Kamala Harris as his successor. Relatively vivacious and articulate, Harris quickly captured the enthusiasm of the Democratic Party, gaining momentum in the race against former President Donald Trump. His continued success will depend on whether he can develop into the role of galvanizing, inspiring political figure that he has struggled to fill in the past.
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