Biden is out and Harris is in: as of Friday, Aug. 2, Kamala Harris is the official presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. However, there’s a whole campaign left to go: While Harris is polling better than Biden did, the race remains close (with only a 0.6% difference in polling numbers between Harris and Trump according to the Cook Political Report as of Aug. 9), and the full effect of the change in Democratic candidate has yet to be seen.
To get some clarity on the potential ramifications of this substitution, the Watchdog reached out to Dr. Christina Sciabarra, a professor of political science at Bellevue College.
“[I]n a way she’s in a really good position,” Dr. Sciabarra said of Harris. “[S]he can basically take credit for any Biden platforms or policies that, that people like, and sort of distance herself from any that they don’t like because the vice presidency is such an amorphous [role].”
Harris’ campaign website takes this approach, enumerating her accomplishments as Joe Biden’s vice president. In addition to the vice president’s own raised funds, which are reported as approximately $310 million in July, Harris’ campaign also inherits Biden’s campaign funds.
“The vice president [has] like, two constitutional responsibilities,” Dr. Sciabarra noted. “But why they matter is because, exactly like what we saw with Biden dropping out, vice presidents are often viewed as legitimate candidates for future executive office.”
This will apply to Harris’ own choice of vice president as well.
“[H]er running mate choice will be crucial because she’s gonna need that person to pull some of the voters that she’s gonna lose based on her stance on some different platforms,” Dr. Sciabarra said of the position.
“[T]here’s going to be a need to, like, reassure independents who are maybe uncomfortable or nervous about Trump, but maybe looking for someone who is not as affiliated with the Biden administration. So my expectation is she might be looking, or they might be looking a little bit outside of… the typical or expected, uh, vice presidential candidate.”
Since the time of the interview, Harris chose Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
However, money and vice presidency won’t be everything. According to Dr. Sciabarra, the Harris campaign will need to focus on extremely clear messaging to overcome the labels of ‘the Democratic nominee’ or ‘Biden’s vice president.’
“I don’t know that she has, again, the messaging yet to make people excited and interested,” Dr. Sciabarra explained. “I do think it may end up coming down to, are you voting for Trump or are you voting against Trump? And I hate to be that way, but that’s certainly how it’s been framed.”
Dr. Sciabarra also notes that the makeup of the government the next president takes control of may have just as much significance as the election itself.
“The presidential election matters,” she impressed, “but it’s all the apparatus around it that people really need to focus on because, at the end of the day, the executive definitely has power, but it’s the people around them that wield the day-to-day power.”
Sciabarra went on to explain that when compared to the presidential race, the local and state elections may have just as much — if not more — impact.
