Upon concluding her performance at Kamala Harris’s campaign rally in Atlanta last week, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, aged 29, addressed the filled auditorium, expressing her anticipation for the potential inauguration of the very first female president, as well as the first black female president, in the history of the United States. Her remark was met with enthusiastic applause from an audience of over 10,000, largely composed of women, thrilled at the prospect of the first female occupant of the Oval Office.
“The proverbial glass ceiling was somewhat shattered by Hillary Clinton,” voiced 68-year-old Yvonne Marcus, a Harris campaign volunteer as of last month. This was subsequent to current US President Joe Biden’s surprising announcement that he would not be seeking re-election and would instead endorse Harris. “Now, however, it is Kamala’s time to seize this election,” she continued.
As Harris’s presidential run gained momentum less than 100 days away from the forthcoming November elections, a revitalised Democratic Party breathed a sigh of relief. The Democratic Party had been on edge for weeks concerning a potential defeat for Biden in the face of Donald Trump. Recent polls showed Harris erasing Trump’s lead nationally and in key states expected to swing the election’s result.
A poll conducted by Bloomberg News / Morning Consult released on the day of the Atlanta rally revealed a close call, with 48% of voters in seven crucial swing states favouring Harris over Trump at 47%. Harris owes her polling success largely to increased support from the younger demographic, voters of colour and, notably, female voters.
With a record turnout on November 5th hoped for by the Democratic Party, anticipation is high that female voters will play a major role in Harris maintaining her momentum.
The impact of her candidacy has been invigorating, transforming the anxiety around the imminent election into a wave of optimism and enthusiasm. “Not just with the aim of defeating Trump, but to offer a glimpse into a promising future,” said Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something, an organisation aimed at scouting youthful Democratic contenders for public office, and also a veteran of Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. “The personal narratives of the candidates … who they are as individuals … it matters,” she asserted.
Harris has always emphasised on reproductive freedom and broadening access to abortion during her campaign. She took the platform for almost 20 minutes in Atlanta, making a promise to oppose stringent abortion bans and advocate for a nationwide legislation that would enshrine the rights stated in Roe vs Wade.
However, unlike Megan Thee Stallion or a local DJ who urged the audience to join in on the powerful anthem ‘I’m Every Woman’ by Chaka Khan while they waited for her arrival, Harris did not explicitly express the significance of her gender, nor the history-making potential of an election victory for black women.
Nevertheless, she did not hold back in highlighting Trump and his associate JD Vance for their escalating personal and sexist allegations. Within the last week alone, Trump has used offensive terms for Harris such as a “low-IQ individual”, suggesting she would merely serve as a plaything for foreign enemies and doubting her racial background.
“I didn’t realise she identified as black, until many years ago, when she seemingly did, and now she wishes to be acknowledged as black,” Trump shared during a conference for the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago. Harris’s late mother was of Indian-American descent, while her black father hailed from Jamaica.
On the other hand, an old video from a 2021 interview stirred controversy for Vance when he labelled Harris and other democrats without offspring as “a bunch of childless cat ladies disillusioned with their own lives”. Contrary to his claim, Harris shares two stepchildren with her spouse, Douglas Emhoff.
Litman commented on this matter, stating, “Their way of discussing women is rather repulsive …it’s eerie. It is as if they have never associated with a woman before.”
Harris tackled these remarks with humour during her Atlanta speech. She mentioned how they both seemed eager to comment on her, a statement that incited humour among the crowds. “And, by the way, isn’t it strange some of the things they have to say?”
Addressing Trump directly, she responded: “Donald, I would urge you to reconsider meeting me on the debate stage. Because, as the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.”
Multiple individuals attending the meeting in Atlanta made reference to Clinton’s bid for presidency eight years prior. Clinton was the premier woman to head a significant party’s presidential run, in which she was defeated by Trump after a contentious campaign. Trump infamously dubbed the former state secretary as a “nasty woman”. Despite this, majority of the participants at the assembly asserted that significant strides have been made since the year 2016, expressing hope that Harris would be capable of breaking what Clinton referred to as the “highest, hardest glass ceiling”.
Joycelen King, a 61-year-old volunteer for Harris’s campaign expressed her previous expectation that Hillary would have won, but her defeat was a trick on everyone. The involvement of a woman with diverse roots like Harris shows just how much transformation America has undergone since then.
Post the 2016 election, America saw significant female centred movements such as Women’s March, Me Too and the landmark decision by the US supreme court in 2022 to overturn Roe vs Wade which was a constitutional declaration of abortion rights.
This decision led to many Republican controlled states pushing for strict and widely unpopular abortion laws, which has led to questioning the legality of fertility treatments and birth control.
According to Political scientist Lara Brown, the frustration that had been building up made numerous female voters rally around Harris. She further added that women have been in anticipation of a messenger for eight years, and Harris is now seen as the voice for Democrats, as well as those aligned with the Democratic party.
That being said, not all present at the Atlanta rally supported Harris solely for being a woman or belonging to a certain race. For Jennifer Coggin, a 64-year-old who decided to volunteer for the Harris campaign post Biden’s departure, gender wasn’t a deciding factor. Coggin stated that, while it would make her proud to have a female president, what she truly seeks in a candidate are the right qualifications, independent of their gender.
However, numerous attendees shared their excitement for what Harris’s candidacy stands for and the prospect of her defeating Trump. Lori Evans, a 66-year-old, recounted leading a feminist group while at secondary school that supported what was then known as the women’s liberation movement.
Evans expressed his lifelong anticipation for this event, stating he never imagined he would live to witness it. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024.