Former prosecutor v convicted criminal - Harris brings new energy to presidential race like no other

It took Kamala Harris and a team behind the scenes just 36 hours to secure enough delegates to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.

Uniting an entire party behind her in such a short space of time was an exhibition in political organising.

But, the easy part is now over. Eating into the lead Donald Trump currently holds in the polls and ultimately beating him in November will be a far greater challenge.

She will need to be quick off the mark again, just two months out from early voting getting under way.

The question now is, can she become America’s first female president?

With the nomination all but assured, the Harris presidential campaign will begin in earnest.

Over the next 105 days, she will need to criss-cross the United States with an energy many in her party feared Joe Biden didn’t have.

Ms Harris, at 59, has relative youth on her side, compared to Mr Trump, 78. But where he is arguably the most famous man in the world, she still needs to raise her profile.

She may have been vice president for three and a half years but there are people in vast parts of the United States who don’t understand who Ms Harris is, or what she stands for.

Or what they do know of her is through sound bites and memes online – which may not help her reputation.

Ms Harris will need to meet factory workers in Pennsylvania, suburban mums in Arizona, angry Arab Americans in Michigan disillusioned with the Biden administration over its support of Israel. She has to win them all over.

The good news is she has the money to pay for flight fuel. Ms Harris automatically inherits a $96m (£74m) war chest from the Biden/Harris campaign.

She also received $81m (£66m) in donations the day after Mr Biden dropped out – the most raised in any 24-hour period by any campaign this election cycle.

In her statement acknowledging she had reached the threshold of delegates required to secure the nomination, Ms Harris wrote: “As a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top.”

Is the US ready for Kamala?

I spent a day this week in Ms Harris’s adopted home of Brentwood, an upmarket LA neighbourhood where she and husband Doug Emhoff spend much of their time.

At the local coffee shop some are unconvinced that the US is ready for a female president, let alone a woman of colour.

“I don’t know if it is. There are a lot of stupid people in this country so I hope so, but fingers crossed,” says Laura.

Her almost namesake, Kamila, who came to the US from Pakistan 50 years ago, is also unsure.

“I live in LA,” she says, “and there’s a whole country between the coasts that I don’t know and they’re the majority. I’m not sure if America is ready for a female, black president.”

‘Dumb as rocks’ – the attacks begin

Ms Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, will certainly face prejudice.

Already Representative Tim Burchett, from Tennessee, has called Harris a “DEI” – a diversity, equality and inclusion – hire.

That might sound outrageous when said in the corridors of power. But that viewpoint – and worse – will be echoed in murky corners all around this country.

Mr Trump has already written on his Truth Social account that Ms Harris is “dumb as rocks” and his campaign is quickly pivoting to attack her in online missives and TV advertisements.

But Ms Harris has run bitterly contested campaigns before, to become a district attorney, to become the first black attorney general of California – the highest legal office in the state – and for the senate. She is unlikely to be deterred by name-calling.

The fact she has been so vocal on reproductive rights could be key in bringing women to the ballot box.

She has always been more comfortable talking about abortion than Mr Biden, an elderly Catholic man, who has wrestled with his feelings on the subject in the past.

It is likely abortion access will be a major rallying cry for her campaign and that will have Mr Trump nervous.

He knows abortion is an electoral loser, after Republicans greatly underperformed in the 2022 midterms following the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, which removed the constitutional right to choose.

It is clear that Ms Harris intends to go toe to toe with Mr Trump.

In an address at her campaign headquarters, she said that in a career as a prosecutor she had taken on “predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type”.

The former prosecutor versus the convicted criminal and the clock running down. The scene has been set for a presidential race like no other.

This article was originally published by Sky.com. Read the original article here.

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