Now that president Joe Biden has officially exited the US Presidential Race, we look at how his politics differ vs that of vice president Kamala Harris.
Last month, incumbent president of the United States Joe Biden shook the political world when he announced that he would be pulling out of the 2024 Presidential race, summarily endorsing vice president Kamala Harris for the job instead. This decision has been met with widespread approval amongst the younger voter audience, most notably Gen Z and millennials. However, in a surprising outpouring of support, grassroots Democrats and blue voters have also come out in huge numbers, rallying around the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Harris’ early support is palpable in the series of unfolding events, which alone say enough of the Democratic party’s belief in their would-be future president. To become the Democratic nominee, Harris had to receive endorsements from 1,976 Democratic delegates, of which there are over 4,000 nationwide.
According to an Associated Press survey of these same delegates, Harris impressively swayed them to her cause in record time, securing enough votes to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee a mere 32 hours after Biden’s exit announcement. The announcement was later confirmed by Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, with all signs pointing to Harris as the candidate to go up against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump come November 2024.
In the late hours of Monday, August 5, 2024, Harris formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination, winning 99 percent of the 4,567 votes cast. In doing so, Harris has become the first woman of colour to lead a major party ticket, marking a significant moment in American politics. Although expected, Harris’ victory is clearly symbolic of the tidal wave heralding change within the party, as well as beyond amongst voters. A statement by the party which confirmed Harris’ success also said that it would formally certify the vote before holding a celebratory roll call at the Democratic Convention in late August.
To date, Harris has already garnered support from notable longtime Democrats for her presidential run. Besides president Joe Biden, Harris has received endorsements from former president Barack Obama, former speaker Nancy Pelosi, senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, house minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, senator Elizabeth Warren, former president Bill Clinton, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, and senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota among others.
As of August 6 2024, Harris’ selected running mate, as per major news outlets has been revealed to be Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. Walz, 60, is a two-term governor popular amongst his constituents. He is also widely known to be the man who popularised using the phrase “These guys are just weird” to describe Republicans and their antics, a notion that Gen Z and Millennials have accepted with great delight.
Walz’s selection as Harris’ running mate further distinguishes her campaign from both Biden’s and Trump’s, reflecting her desire to appeal to a wider berth of voters. A former public-school teacher, football coach, and National Guardsman prior to his career in politics, Walz’s moderate ideologies may serve to bridge the gap between Harris and her Republican contemporaries. Notably, many including leading voices in labour are of the belief that Walz will add appeal to Harris, particularly to those of the rural and working class.
Notably, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has yet to offer an official endorsement. A longtime favourite among voters for his socialist take on democracy, Sanders’ endorsement could usher Harris’ campaign forward, further endearing her to the segment of voters inclined towards his brand of politics. While Sanders has said that he would do everything in his power to see Harris elected, he appears to be motivated by a desire to keep defeating Trump, whose 2017 Tax Law had famously skewed towards benefitting the rich. Given his personal priorities and popularity amongst the working class, it makes sense that Sanders is holding off an official endorsement, likely in the hopes of pushing Harris to adopt some of his priorities in her campaign.
Incredibly, Harris has also received endorsements from the other side of the fence. Key Republican officials from the GOP who have come out in support of Harris include Republican governor Bill Weld of Massachusetts, former United States representative Denver Riggleman, former Trump administration press secretary Stephanie Grisham, and former Republican governor Christie Whitman of New Jersey.
To date, Harris has raised USD 310 million in donations to her campaign, more than double the amount raised by the Trump campaign in July. With less than 100 days to the United States elections, experts expect Harris to continue along in her upward trajectory, surging in both popularity and donations alike. That is, if the Harris campaign continues to play its cards right.
While the Trump campaign had planned for a long, drawn-out gun fight with Biden’s bid for re-election, the introduction of Harris as a viable and popular candidate was something it did not anticipate. Notably, Trump and his team have had difficulty finding purchase with which to attack Harris. From the use of banal schoolyard nicknames like ‘L-Y-I-N’ Kamala’ and ‘dangerously liberal Kamala’ to rampant attacks on her ascent and the downright nonsensical remarks on her age, Trump has publicly proven that he and his campaign are ill-equipped to do battle on Harris’ terms.
As per the latest polling results by CBS news/YouGov, released on August 4, Harris’ popularity amongst voters has surged, and she now boasts a 1 percent advantage over Trump on a national scale. This is a notable net gain for Democrats, considering Trump’s previous 5-point advantage over Biden, whose popularity amongst voters had plummeted following a disastrous debate and widespread concerns over his age, mental faculties, and ability to lead the country for another term.
Harris’ ascension into her role as Democratic presidential nominee has been swift and fuelled by growing public hunger for a viable candidate to take the oval office. In the days following Biden’s exit, the media and Democratic party have all sparked into action, propelling Harris’ campaign forward with incredible momentum. Experts have credited Harris’ popularity to her having avoided the drama and scrutiny of the Primaries, in which opposing candidates for the Democratic nominee role would have sought to highlight her insufficiencies.
Coming in this late to the game, Harris has escaped mostly unscathed, riding high on the wave of successes and raising a viable fanbase in the wake of her public appearances, interviews, and rallies.
Most notably, Trump has declined to debate Harris on any other stage but Fox News — a news channel well-known for their far-right ideologies and Trump-backing anchors. To this, Harris, two decades his junior and sharp as a tack, simply responded on social media: “What happened to ‘Any time, any place?’” Harris further doubled down on the gauntlets thrown at a campaign rally in Atlanta, adding, “If you got something to say, say it to my face.”
On the celebrity front, Harris has yet to receive an endorsement from Taylor Swift. Swift, who had famously supported former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential race, has also spoken out against Trump and his agenda, denouncing his racism and homophobia among other things. The superstar, who is currently performing her Eras tour across sold out shows in Europe, has also spoken up for women’s rights, which is a cause championed by Harris’ campaign. While she has yet to make an official announcement, it is a fair assumption that Swift will continue to support the Democratic party’s bid to retake the White House.
Beyond Swift, Harris has received a flood of endorsements from celebrities, many of whom have come out in support of her White House aspirations. The star-studded list of names include Mark Hamill, Josh Groban, George Clooney, Ariana Grande, Lil Nas X, Jannelle Monáe, Olivia Rodrigo, Mark Ruffalo, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Lance Bass of *NSYNC, Megan Thee Stallion, Charli XCX, Jamie Lee Curtis, Shonda Rhimes, Barbra Streisand, and many others — and it is only expected to grow.
Across social media platforms, Harris has received unprecedented levels of support from a young new generation of voters. Kicking off with Charli XCX’s endorsement, which inducted Harris into the annals of the trending Brat Girl Summer, youths across TikTok, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and other platforms began creating and spreading memes of Harris, quickly endearing her to others of the generation. According to a nonpartisan platform that encourages voter registration Vote.org, over 38,500 new voters had registered a mere 48 hours after Biden’s exit. Startlingly, this figure exceeds the 30,000 registrations inspired by Taylor Swift, who made a post last September encouraging those of age to vote. As of July 26, the number had surged beyond 100,000.
And that’s not all on the online front. Last week, the Democratic campaign made history when Texas native Ross Morales Rocketto organised a massive video fundraiser for Harris’ campaign. The White Dudes for Harris group call, which included renowned Democratic politicians and celebrities the likes of Mark Hamill, Josh Groban, and Jeff Bridges among others, started life as a slightly off-centre, if well-meaning campaign — yet, by the end of the night, the group had raised USD 4 million. And while the use of colour may be regarded as divisive in so many cases, it is particularly heartening, in this instance, to recognise the significance of white dudes standing up for a female presidential candidate of black and Asian descent.
We must do everything in our power to defeat Donald Trump this November, and elect @kamalaharris as our next president. https://t.co/Fc7cj0DlcG
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 6, 2024
More recently, Senator Bernie Sanders has also organised a group effort, the Progressives for Harris call aimed at defeating Trump and electing Harris come November.
Considering the delicate nature of worldly politics today, it makes sense that ample consideration and thought is put into official statements and stances taken. Having served the nation together for four years, Biden and Harris have not publicly clashed in opinions, often presenting a united front.
However, while the duo does appear to see eye-to-eye on many things, experts are expecting Harris to take a harder stance on specific matters, subverting Biden’s propensity for toeing the line to not rock the boat with other global powers — largely Israel.
President Joe Biden has been outspoken about his support for Israel in the ongoing conflict, drawing criticism and provoking outrage among progressives and human rights activists. To this end, Harris has adopted a sterner approach in addressing the issue, with notable public expressions of sympathy for the Palestinian plight and the unthinkable scale of Palestinian deaths suffered at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hands. Harris’ sharp rebuke of Israel’s actions have improved her standing among humanitarians; additionally, as per POLITICO, she has also privately expressed to Biden and other top officials that a stronger stance needed to be taken against Netanyahu, with emphasis on a long-term solution for peace.
Notably, Harris opted out of attending Netanyahu’s Congress speech in late July.
Like Biden, Harris has strongly denounced the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. In today’s political climate, Harris has set herself up as the champion for abortion access and women’s rights and embraces even stronger policies than Biden had in the duo’s 2020 campaign. In January, Harris went on a ‘reproductive freedoms tour’ across numerous states that included a stop at a Minnesota abortion clinic.
Harris has previously criticised Biden’s support of the Hyde Amendment, a measure that blocks the use of federal funds for abortions. Upon election, Harris is expected to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade, but experts think she is likely to be a stronger voice for abortion rights as compared to Biden. While a presidential candidate in 2019, Harris had proposed going further than Roe by giving the Justice Department enhanced oversight over states’ abortion laws. This would essentially force states who held records of curtailing abortion rights to request clearance from the Department of Justice before new laws affecting abortion access were placed into effect.
Like Biden, Harris plans to revitalise the American economy, ensuring ample opportunities are presented to everyday Americans struggling with price gouging and inflation. Once elected, she is expected to push forward with the promises made by the Biden administration, including a proposal to ban businesses from charging hidden and misleading fees, requiring them to show the full price up front. However, Harris is also expected to take a more progressive slant to the economy as she targets healthcare, childcare, elder care, and family leave, with the ultimate goal of making them more affordable for Americans.
During her run as a 2020 presidential candidate, Harris also put forth a proposal to provide middle-class and working families with refundable tax credits of up to USD 6,000 per year. This measure, which would have cost USD 3 trillion over a decade, was aimed at lightening the load for the middle classes, aiding with rising costs of living whilst protecting taxpayers from payday loans with high interest rates.
Harris also planned on increasing corporate income tax rates to 35 percent — a whole 7 percent more than the 28 percent proposed by Biden. However, both are superior to Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which skewed strongly towards corporations and billionaires with an incredibly reduced rate of 21 percent. Harris is also looking to target affordable housing; as Senator, she famously expressed that housing was a ‘human right’, and that ‘every American deserved basic security and dignity in their own home’. To this end, she also introduced the Rent Relief Act aimed at establishing a refundable tax credit for renters who spend over 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities annually.
Harris originally co-sponsored Bernie Sanders’ plan for free college in 2017, aiming to eliminate tuition and other fees for students attending two-year colleges and middle-class students attending four-year public institutions. However, she soon changed tack in 2020, backing an even more comprehensive plan by Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii which factored in the comprehensive costs of a tertiary education. Most recently, in 2022, she took charge as part of the Biden administration to eliminate debt owed to Corinthian Colleges, a chain of for-profit schools that she had persecuted herself as attorney general of California.
In contrast, Biden’s proposal supported tuition-free access to four-year public colleges and universities; however, that access was limited to families with annual incomes of below USD 125,000. Notably, Biden had publicly and privately expressed hesitancy to go hard on debt forgiveness, questioning his own legal authority as well as the validity of cancelling student debt for high-income ivy league graduates. Biden’s plan ultimately failed to come to fruition.
However, as of May 2024, the Biden-Harris administration has managed to approve USD 167 billion total in loan forgiveness for 4.75 million Americans — meaning one out of 10 federal student loan borrowers received debt relief. While met with much approval by progressives and socialists, these measures were widely criticised by Republicans, who argued that it was unfair and illegal to Americans who did not go to college or had already paid off their debts.
The Debt Free College Act was reintroduced in Congress last year, and it is expected that Harris might push it forward for a favourable view from progressives.
The American healthcare system has long been regarded as a difficult beast to fell. Harris faces a major challenge on this front, with big pharma and health insurance companies lobbying for their personal agendas and goals. During the Biden administration, the current president worked alongside vice president Harris to define American healthcare, from the handling of the Covid-19 health crisis and ensuring abortion access to capping drug prices and lowering the rates of uninsured citizens.
Given the Republican pushback in congress, success has been mid at best, though it can be argued that Biden and Harris have made a valiant effort. Key among their greatest triumphs: the capping of insulin at USD 35 a month for Medicare recipients, and a further 10 top-selling prescription drugs to be selected for price renegotiation come February 2025.
While Harris has displayed a stronger affinity for abortion access, she has also distinguished herself from Biden by speaking on the need to expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing benefits. Harris has been vocal about shifting the United States to a government-backed insurance system; however, she stopped short of eliminating private insurance options, instead, calling for a measure to transition to a Medicare-for-All system that would allow for private insurance companies to offer Medicare plans.
While Harris once called for a ban on fracking, she has recently walked back her support for such a ban, aligning with Biden on the subject. However, the two have butted heads over climate change in the past, with Harris proposing a USD 10 trillion climate plan and co-sponsoring the Green New Deal — a progressive plan that would aggressively tackle climate change while including issues like social justice, jobs, housing, and healthcare. In contrast, Biden proposed his own Build Back Better bill, which eventually became the USD 369 billion Inflation Reduction Act that addressed climate concerns.
Notably, Biden refused to support the entirety of the Green New Deal. However, his Build Back Better bill did not differ too greatly from it; instead, it provided a more targeted and narrow approach to addressing climate concerns, incorporating an accelerated timeline to achieving a carbon-free electricity sector with emphasised focus on environmental justice.
On the flip side, Harris has long been regarded as a champion against climate change. While a presidential candidate in 2019, Harris spoke on the potential of a ‘climate pollution fee’ and the ending of federal subsidies for fossil fuels. If elected, Harris is likely to further push the United States forward into embracing clean sources of energy. This aligns with her goal of meeting the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement, thus reducing the nation’s climate pollution by 2035.
Between Biden and Harris, however, one thing remains clear: Both have proven themselves to be miles ahead of Trump, whose promises to return America to its former ‘glory’ of fossil fuels have been met with public outcry amongst climate activists and environmentalists alike.
Given the rise of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity threats are at an all-time high with data privacy breaches forming the crux of conversation amongst tech contemporaries today. Beyond deepfakes, artificially generated content poses a palpable threat to privacy, paving the way to mass identity theft.
While Biden has opted for a tempered approach that sees AI companies setting their own voluntary standards, Harris has taken the harder stance, calling for regulations in addressing the potential risks posed by AI, from deepfakes to algorithm bias and widespread disinformation. This step is certain to endear Harris to progressives, but is also likely to receive pushback from Republican Silicon Valley supporters who may favour Trump’s low-regulation agenda.
(Main and featured images: Kamala Harris/Instagram)
Vice president Kamala Harris is a Democrat.
As a multi-racial candidate seeking presidency, Kamala Harris is the first who does not solely identify as Christian. Harris was raised Hindu by her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who came from Chennai in India. However, she often visited the 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland, California with her neighbour, eventually joining a Black Baptist church — the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco — as an adult. Her husband Douglas Emhoff is Jewish.
Yes. As of August 7, Kamala Harris’ running mate has been selected — Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota.
The Democratic nominee for the presidential race selects a running mate based on several factors including public opinion and political experience. The vice president is indirectly elected at the same time as the president, and both are appointed to a four-year term of office by the people of the United States, through the Electoral College. However, electoral votes are cast separately for the president and the vice president.
Associate Digital Editor
Emmelyn curates and creates content in Kuala Lumpur, where she's spent the past decade building a portfolio comprising copy and video spanning print and digital platforms. Endlessly fascinated with cookbooks, ..Read More
Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest updates.
Thank you for your subscription.
