Prosecutor, defender of equal rights, final hope for Democrats: Who is the new presidential candidate Kamala Harris?
On July 21, a month before the Democratic Party convention, Joe Biden announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy from the U.S. presidential election. The party had to quickly choose a new candidate without holding the general internal primaries that Joe Biden initially won. The new candidate had to be selected by party delegates or the committee. The Democrats favoured the first option.
Joe Biden supported the candidacy of US Vice President Kamala Harris. On August 2, the majority of Democratic Party delegates supported Harris in an internal party vote. She is now the official candidate of the Democratic Party.
Svidomi discusses the path to politics of US Vice President Kamala Harris, her political position on Ukraine and Tim Walz, her vice presidential candidate.
How Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential candidate in the US
Joe Biden was the absolute favourite of the Democratic Party in the internal 2024 elections. He received 87% of the vote in the primaries and was preparing for the Democratic Party nomination. Despite dissatisfaction with him (only 40% of Americans supported his actions in May 2024), the Democratic Party chose him as the incumbent president. Moreover, the Democrats had no other candidate popular enough to compete with Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States in Joe Biden's administration, did not run in the internal primaries. She also supported Joe Biden, thus remaining his vice-presidential candidate for 2024.
Kamala Harris is 59 years old. She is of Jamaican and South Asian descent and began her career as a prosecutor in San Francisco. In the United States, the system is such that Americans elect district and state attorneys general. Therefore, the residents of San Francisco elected Kamala Harris in 2003 and 2007. In 2010, she ran for Attorney General of California and won. She was re-elected to this position in 2014.
As a prosecutor, Harris fought against transnational syndicates involved in human trafficking, primarily women and children, into slavery. She prosecuted commercial colleges in California that defrauded students with non-existent education. Harris advocated for equality, investigating crimes against LGBTQ+ people and ethnic minorities in the U.S. She also specialised in cases of sexual violence.
Kamala Harris also implemented programs for convicts, giving them the opportunity to reintegrate into society after leaving prison. One such program, "Back on Track," helped those convicted of drug dealing.
In 2016, she ran for the U.S. Senate and won. As a senator, Kamala Harris advocated for abortion rights, supported the American organisation Peace Action against the deployment of nuclear weapons, and fought for accessible healthcare for all Americans, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and ethnic minorities.
Thus, she gradually gained influence within the Democratic Party. In 2019, she ran for the U.S. presidency in the Democratic Party's internal primaries but withdrew from the race in March, endorsing Joe Biden. He made her his vice-presidential candidate, and together they won the 2020 election.
Now, Joe Biden has endorsed her in the U.S. presidential race after withdrawing his candidacy in July 2024. Biden faced criticism for his age, with doubts about his ability to lead the country for the next four years and concerns about his health.
Kamala Harris, who had not been a particularly active vice president with a 44% disapproval rating according to data platform Statista, now has to lead the Democratic Party.
However, her candidacy gave a second wind to Democratic Party voters. On the first day after announcing her candidacy, Kamala raised $81 million for her campaign, a historic record for a presidential candidate.
In her election campaign, Kamala Harris focuses on domestic policy. She promises to allow abortions for women nationwide and to make healthcare services accessible. Harris advocates for reducing carbon emissions by 52% in the U.S. by 2030 as part of a "green policy." She supports racial equality, demilitarisation of police departments, and tax benefits for families with children.
In foreign policy, Kamala Harris largely continues Joe Biden's policies. She supports Ukraine, the establishment of the state of Palestine, and keeping the U.S. in NATO. However, she does not emphasise foreign policy much in her campaign.
The main point is that she contrasts sharply with Donald Trump. It was Trump who initiated the campaign against Biden regarding his age. Now, Trump is the "old" candidate (78 years old) compared to Kamala Harris, who is 18 years younger. Additionally, there is a significant difference in their political careers and life paths. In May, Trump was convicted of 34 crimes, and only the U.S. Supreme Court saved his candidacy by recognising the president as "untouchable." Kamala Harris is a prosecutor who specialised in sexual crimes, for which Trump was convicted. "The prosecutor vs. the felon" — this is how Harris's campaign against Trump looks. Finally, she is gaining support from Americans – she has 45% voter support compared to Trump's 43%. However, whether this will be enough to win the election remains to be seen.
Doug Klain, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, says her role and experience as a prosecutor form the basis of her presidential campaign against Trump.
"Americans became familiar with Kamala Harris when she ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020 before being selected as Joe Biden's running mate. Since then, she hasn't had a significantly visible role in the Biden Administration. Harris has taken ownership of strategic issues such as abortion and reproductive rights in the U.S., acting as the primary messenger for the administration on these issues. A key experience on her resume is her role as the attorney general of California before becoming a senator. The contrast between Harris running on her image as a prosecutor versus Trump running as a convicted felon is one she had already drawn in 2020, and a dynamic likely to be revived," sums up Kamala Harris's political career, Doug Klain.
Kamala Harris’s political position on Ukraine
In June, Vice President Kamala Harris represented the United States at a peace summit in Switzerland. During the summit, she reaffirmed the U.S. position of recognising Russia as the aggressor in the war against Ukraine and assured that the U.S. would continue to support Ukraine in the war.
“America stands with Ukraine not out of charity, but because it is on our strategic interest,”
Vice President Harris stated.
As Vice President, Kamala Harris supported Joe Biden’s policy towards Ukraine, partly because she lacked Biden’s extensive experience in international politics. Joe Biden served as vice president in both of President Barack Obama’s administrations from 2008 to 2016, while Kamala Harris’s political career focused primarily on domestic policy.
Nonetheless, Vice President Harris has repeatedly represented the U.S. at various international meetings and conferences. She spoke at the Munich Conference in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, she declared America’s “unwavering” commitment to NATO. In 2023, she confirmed that Russia was committing crimes against humanity by waging war against Ukraine.
Kamala Harris has met multiple times with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In her discussions with him, she reiterated U.S. support for Ukraine. Additionally, Kamala Harris endorsed the Ukrainian Peace Formula—an initiative aimed at ending the war with Russia and potentially serving as a peace plan for other countries in the future.
As the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, and if victorious in the elections, Kamala Harris will have to shape her policy regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine and U.S. support for Ukraine in this war. According to Time magazine, Harris has played supporting roles so far, but now she must take on leadership and select a team to back her on this issue.
Kamala Harris reportedly does not favour President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. She attended the Peace Summit with him. However, she does not see a place for him in her potential future administration. She also does not see a place for John Kirby, a representative of the U.S. State Department.
Jake Sullivan opposes Western weapons hitting Russian territory, which are transferred by partners to Ukraine. He believes that hitting Russian troop formations within Ukraine, including temporarily occupied territories, is sufficient for Ukraine’s defence. Consequently, Joe Biden’s administration did not allow Ukraine to strike ATACMS missiles at airfields in the Voronezh region in July, where Russia stationed its SU-34 aircraft. As of August, the Russians had moved the planes out of the strike zone.
Therefore, the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine and the level of U.S. support for Ukraine will depend on Harris’s future team. However, this support will certainly continue, as it is a priority for Harris’s election campaign.
Doug Klain believes Kamala Harris will continue Joe Biden’s policy towards Ukraine. He is optimistic about her future administration if she wins the presidential election.
“Her views when it comes to Ukraine are likely to be very similar to Joe Biden's, but I think we may see more flexibility. She'll want to run this campaign building on the successes of Biden's tenure while drawing a contrast with Trump and Vance, and we're likely to see her utilising the same messaging that Biden has used, describing Trump as "Putin's lap dog." Even so, if she wins the election and shakes up national security staff, I'm hopeful we'll see fresh faces who aren't so worried about provoking Putin into escalation and more willing to do whatever is necessary to help Ukraine win.”
Who is vice presidential candidate Tim Walz?
Tim Walz is the governor of Minnesota. In 2018, Walz defeated Republican Jeff Johnson. In 2022, he was re-elected for a second term.
During his term, Minnesota experienced the Black Lives Matter riots following the killing of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin during an unlawful arrest on the street in May 2020. Officer Chauvin suffocated Floyd with his knee. This incident of police violence triggered mass protests across the U.S., with the largest occurring in Minnesota.
Derek Chauvin was arrested, and in 2021, he was sentenced to 21 years for “violating civil rights.” Governor Tim Walz expressed condolences to Floyd’s family for their loss and tried to calm the protests and riots. However, he acknowledged the lack of resources from firefighters, police, and the National Guard to stop the riots, arson, and chaos on the streets.
These protests also led to a public confrontation between Walz and President Donald Trump. Trump tweeted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Walz perceived Trump’s words as incitement and responded, “In a moment that is so volatile, anything we do to add fuel to that fire is really, really challenging.”
As the governor of a swing state, Tim Walz can help Kamala Harris’s campaign attract undecided voters. He already has experience communicating with conservative voters and can sway them to his side. His policies align with hers. He opposes police violence, has introduced regulations to control the state’s police and supports gun control, LGBTQ rights, accessible abortions for women, and affordable healthcare for all.
Walz also supports a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. He condemned Hamas for the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, but has since allowed protests in Minnesota in support of Palestine and has repeatedly spoken out against Israel’s policy of conducting military operations in Gaza and attacking civilians.
Even as a state governor, Tim Walz has expressed support for Ukraine. He had an online meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in April 2023 and has spoken multiple times about accepting refugees from Ukraine in Minnesota.
The most important thing is that Tim Walz complements Kamala Harris. He is a 60-year-old white man, a veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard, and a teacher by profession. He is from the small town of Mankato, with a population of about 45,000. Tim Walz represents a different America—the rural, Midwestern, more conservative one. Kamala Harris, who has spent her career in California, presents a different profile. Together, they will aim to garner the most diverse electorate in one of the shortest campaigns in U.S. presidential election history.
