![](https://www.thetriangle.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/KaseyShamis-4-1024x683.jpg)
Joe Biden’s vice-president has a chance to make history, but her chances are not as big as the mountain she must climb.
The mock Biden-Harris re-elect campaign has finally ended. President Biden’s deteriorating mental state was obvious, despite the countless times members of his administration, his wife and multiple media outlets, claiming he was “often sharp and focused.” Now he spends his remaining presidential career either on a beach in Delaware, or dawning hats from his opposing political party.
When Biden stepped down from the presidential race, former President Trump had an extraordinary lead in the polls against Harris. As of this publication, there are only 32 days until the election, and Vice President Harris might actually win the presidency. But the question we should be asking is not “will she?”, it is, can she? What can we expect from a younger, huggable, career-oriented candidate who has spent over 20 years in public office?
To refresh your memory, Harris was California’s 32nd attorney-general from 2010 through early 2017. Her career highlights include deciding to not pursue the death penalty against the man who fatally shot SFPD Officer Isaac Espinoza in 2004. Then, she would defend capital punishment in the case of Ernest Jones in People v. Jones ten years later. She’s also known for wrongfully convicting actor Jamal Trulove of a 2007 San Francisco housing project shooting back in 2010. Trulove ended up being acquitted in 2015 and received $13 million from the city.
She then became a United States Senator in California’s 2016 Senate election, a relatively unexplored time in her life. Her performance on camera gained her some political spotlight, specifically during her cross-examination of witnesses. Information about Harris off camera, however, is sparse. While her allies and coworkers described her as being a fast learner, she struggled to find a cause of her own, and instead tried to be a legislative jack-of-all-trades. Trying to be progressive, moderate, compromising and firm all at the same time is probably why she has yet to illustrate what her presidency will look like. Maybe she just does not know what to fight for.
When she ran for president in 2020, she was the first to drop out due to lacking funds. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard ripping into her career as attorney general did not help much either, nor did Harris’ failure to defend herself from such attacks. Her left-leaning approach towards fracking and rent subsidies, among her other running points, struggled to gain traction with voters as well. As Biden’s vice president, she also shares the blame for overseeing the country’s 9.1 percent inflation rate and an overwhelming increase in illegal border crossings.
If Biden had dropped out sooner and the DNC held an open primary, she likely would have fallen short again. Instead, she was named the DNC nominee almost immediately, received millions in campaign funds and a pre-made campaign strategy. If this was not an obvious sign that the Democratic Party was ready to abandon Biden for someone new, I do not know what is.
When she became the Democratic nominee, you would expect every single media outlet to ask what America would look like with Harris in The Oval Office. Perhaps she would illustrate where she stands on key issues such as abortion, immigration, foreign affairs and beyond.
Well, 41 days after she accepted the nomination, Harris and her running mate Tim Walz joined CNN for an interview with Dana Bash. Here, Harris would finally explain what America would look like with such a historic president at the helm.
Harris managed to only provide more questions to be asked. The interview was 27 minutes long, and she only spoke for roughly 16 of them. A 16-minute interview is not going to get you 270 electoral votes. She managed to obscure every policy position she’d ever had while simultaneously trying to paint herself as a moderate.
As of publication, the ticket winners for the Democratic party have participated in just over 20 interviews with other media outlets. Meanwhile, Trump and Vance have participated in more than 60.
In her debate with Donald Trump, in my opinion neither candidate won. Excluding a few stand-out moments like Trump’s “run, spot, run” referring to Harris’ copying of Biden’s policy platform and Harris calling out Trump’s “old, tired playbook,” I doubt this debate had any significant impact on poll numbers.
What is she going to do until November 5? If she agrees to a second debate with Trump, how is she going to convince Americans why she deserves to be the next president other than positive vibes and historic moments? Harris has yet to climb the first one thousand feet of this political mountain that lies between her and the Oval Office. But if I had to choose between her chances at becoming the 47th president and a snowball’s chance in Hell, I would have to go with the snowball.