Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States, is moving towards a critical week in her political career, where she must select a running mate – a choice of significant importance. As she strives to maintain the initial momentum from her campaign, the former prosecutor, recognized for her careful decision-making, has until Tuesday to choose her deputy from a narrowed-down selection that includes four governors, one senator, and a cabinet official, who was also an adversary in 2020.
Ordinarily, this high-stakes decision would take several months, but current circumstances necessitate it is made in a matter of weeks.
Following this, Ms Harris and her chosen running mate will commence an assertive campaign tour across seven American states, starting in Philadelphia on Tuesday and proceeding through Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Her initial rallies have been met with great zeal by thousands.
Aware of the transient nature of political momentum, campaign officials are focusing on utilising the current energy, while maintaining a cautious approach by emphasising that the competition against the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, is not a foregone conclusion.
However, the favourable campaign start has allowed Ms Harris to reintroduce several states into the race that were presumed unattainable when President Joe Biden was leading the Democratic ticket.
Over the next few days, Ms Harris will face fresh challenges as she grapples with key decisions including her Vice President selection which could dishearten parts of her loyal following.
While she has not encountered the typical level of scrutiny faced by presidential aspirants, she has remained constantly in the public eye but seldom answered questions from journalists or engaged in a detailed interview.
Following four years of promoting Mr Biden’s policies, she now needs to determine her own stance in relation to polarising political controversies among the Democrats.
Every passing day, the communications of Ms Harris become more lucid. Her debut television commercial the previous week depicted her as a courageous figure and highlighted what appears to be the focal rallying phrase of her campaign “We refuse to revert.”
Aside from identifying Mr Trump as a threat to democracy, Ms Harris constantly underscores the principle of liberty. This includes the rights to choose regarding abortion and to be protected from firearm violence.
Simultaneously, her background in prosecution is increasingly being highlighted as a major point of contention with Mr Trump. She utilises her record of prosecuting hardened lawbreakers and corporate offenders to draw comparisons with Mr Trump’s criminal and civic indictments and convictions during rallies and promotions.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, is hastily labelling her as a lax-on-lawbreaking San Francisco liberal, who was assigned to protect the border during her vice-presidential term but fell short. He holds her and Mr Biden equally accountable for the inflation experienced during their time in office, even going beyond professional criticisms and questioning her intellectual capacity and her mixed-race heritage.
In the ensuing week, as she and her running mate venture into key electoral states, the vice president is preparing to revitalise her efforts in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia. Although it had long considered these states as its primary aim, the Biden campaign had resolved to enhance its efforts in the ‘blue wall’ states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania instead.
With campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez now shifting her concentration more towards Arizona and Nevada owing to what officials consider increased favourable odds for Ms Harris against Mr Trump in these states, both of which Mr Biden clinched in the elections four years ago.
Campaign director of battleground states, Dan Kanninen, echoed Ms Harris’s words to the press over the last week, remarking, “We are the long shots in this contest, yet the burgeoning backing for the vice-president is tangible and significant. The challenge at present is converting this momentum into an actionable plan.”
According to the Harris campaign, volunteers engaged in 2.3 million phone conversations, contacted 172,000 households, and forwarded close to 2.9 million text messages to voters in critical states over a twelve-day period. An online interaction featuring Ms Harris witnessed more than 130,000 participants and 750,000 individuals registered for a campaign gathering for the first occasion.
This weekend, Ms Harris is keeping a low profile in Washington, whilst candidate selection is underway for approximately six potential deputies who have been openly showcasing their suitability through media interactions. The candidates that she is considering, all of whom are Caucasian males, include governors Andy Beshear from Kentucky, JB Pritzker from Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary. This information comes from insiders familiar with the selection process.
Although Ms Harris has been fairly reticent concerning her thought process, it is anticipated that she will utilise her personal experiences from being vetted and later chosen as Mr Biden’s deputy four years prior.
Various factions within the Democratic party are passionately advocating for or against certain names on the shortlist, with factors such as geographic relevance, previous policy positions and public opinion being considerations.
Following the conclusion of the online delegate voting process, Ms Harris will officially become the Democratic nominee on Monday. Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison confirmed in a virtual gathering with supporters on Friday that Ms Harris had successfully gathered sufficient delegate support to secure the nomination.
Another significant occurrence yet to unfold is the potential debate between Ms Harris and Mr Trump. The timing and locality of this debate spawned a contentious discussion this weekend. In favour of a September 4th debate on Fox News, Mr Trump withdrew from a planned debate on ABC on September 10th. Through a social media post, Mr Trump declared “I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all,” despite Ms Harris’s campaign team insisting on sticking with the original date.