Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

The curious rise of Kamala Harris

issue 27 July 2024

I’m struck just in your presence,’ a news anchor gushed to Kamala Harris in January. The Vice President beamed, nodding for her interviewer to continue. ‘You hear candidates suggesting that a vote for President Biden, because of his age, is a vote for you.’ The reporter paused: ‘And that is hurled as an insult.’

Harris explained that this is the price women pay for professional success – in her case, rising from first female attorney general in California to state senator to Vice President of the United States. ‘I love my job,’ Harris concluded, wrapping up the kind of hard-hitting interview the media tends to throw her way.

Insult or not, the suggestion that a vote for Biden was a vote for Harris turned out to be true. The President’s decision to withdraw his campaign 107 days out from polling day – followed by a glowing endorsement for his VP – ensured Harris’s ascendency to the top of the ticket.

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