There is great relief and euphoria among Democrats about the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris as their presidential candidate, says America’s Jan Postma. President Joe Biden stressed in his speech that the national interest comes first, which is exactly what his fellow party members wanted to hear. Harris is doing well in swing states, which gives Democrats hope in their fight against Trump.
Democrats 'thrilled' over Kamala Harris nomination
“There is a great sense of relief among Democrats about Harris’s nomination,” says America’s Jan Postma. “Confidence has returned after the Biden campaign was under pressure for a while. Now there is optimism because there is a chance to beat Trump.” The less positive aspects of Harris and the way the party has presented her are quickly forgotten. Of course, Harris has never had to win a primary, which means she is relatively untrained.
Momentum changes
According to Postma, Republicans are frustrated with Harris’s entry. “Biden was the perfect person to attack, and now Harris is being accused by Republicans of being a positive-action operative,” he said. With Democrats now in the driving seat, the ball is in Trump’s court, and it’s clear that his choice of J.D. Vance as his running mate is not working for him. “He’s kind of the newer version of Trump where you can excite the hard core, but it’s not clear that he’ll also appeal to swing voters,” Postma said.
“It matters not only who votes, but especially where people vote.”
Black voters are crucial.
According to Paul Verhagen, an expert at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies, Harris was actually the only choice to replace Biden. According to him, it is a mistake to think that other Democrats could have replaced Biden. “People think that Democrats are basically left-wing students, but that is not the case. The hard core of the Democratic Party is made up of black women.
Only 12 percent of the U.S. population is black, and about half of them are women. Yet this group is crucial to elections, says Verhagen. “It’s not just who votes, but especially where people vote. In swing states Like Georgia, about 15% of Democratic voters are black women.
Young, black and Latino voters in particular helped propel Biden to power at the time, Verhagen says. “Harris is doing much better in all three categories.” Given the short window in which a replacement had to be found, Verhagen believes only Harris is qualified. The Democratic convention is only about three weeks away, and that’s a very short window.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for reelection. “That led to an incredibly tumultuous election, which the Democrats lost by a wide margin.” The big question Democrats were asking themselves was whether Biden could beat Donald Trump again. Once it became clear that Harris would do better, the party began to move.
Want to learn more about US politics? Then also listen to the America Podcast with reporter Jan Postma and foreign commentator Bernard Hammelburg.
