Democrats convene to entrench their remarkable transformation from Biden to Harris
starts with admiration for President Joe Biden, who will speak on Monday night to an appreciative crowd, grateful that he finally agreed to step aside and pass the baton. However, this moment will be bittersweet for the 81-year-old president, who, despite a productive term, was pressured by his party leaders to call off his reelection bid when his 50-year career was weakened by the effects of aging.
Biden told Americans last month that he was leaving the race, saying, "History is in your hands. The power’s in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands." His party quickly rallied behind Harris, 59, as dreams of a multi-candidate race among Democratic rising stars faded away.
With Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz leading their new ticket, Democrats now aim to prevent a White House comeback by Donald Trump, who is planning to dedicate a potential second term to "retribution."
Republicans left their convention feeling confident of a landslide victory under their resilient candidate, who emerged from an assassination attempt still standing. At that point, the Democratic National Convention seemed set to be a melancholic farewell for an aging president who was trailing Trump in key states. But Harris has given her party a "jolt of electricity and joy," mending some of the potentially disastrous splits in Biden’s coalition.
She's tied with Trump in some national polls, narrowing the gap and reestablishing a tight race between the two. And she's restored multiple avenues for Democrats to secure the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. The shift in the party's mood is remarkable, even if Harris' most challenging tests still lie ahead.
"First of all, you were talking about a reelection nomination, and now you’re talking about something completely different," J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "This is a candidate who’s energized the party in a way that I haven’t seen certainly since '08."
The transformation of the race has left Trump disoriented and yearning for a rematch against Biden. Harris has been successful in positioning herself as the change agent in the race, despite spending four years playing a key role in Biden’s unpopular presidency.
Democrats believe ‘history’ is in their hands
The party's late effort to salvage what many officials consider the most crucial election in a generation is filled with risk.
Democrats have put their trust in a vice president who was not seen as one of her party’s strongest political forces. Remarkably, for a party nominee, Harris has yet to earn a single vote for president. She ended her first campaign in 2019 before the Iowa caucuses and claimed the nomination this time by acclamation after a virtual roll call of delegates rather than in a primary contest. She faces a critical debate confrontation with Trump on September 10, and her ability to maintain momentum could be tested in future media interviews.
Democrats face the historic shadow of the 1968 convention in Chicago, where activist violence sparked by the Vietnam War painted an unflattering picture of the party to Americans who eventually embraced a right-wing Republican law-and-order message. Other similarities to that fateful convention include a Democratic vice president, Hubert Humphrey, who was trying (and ultimately failed) to win the election after the sitting president, Lyndon B. Johnson, was forced to withdraw from his reelection race.
Demonstrations are expected in the coming days, particularly from pro-Palestinian supporters who have criticized Biden's support for Israel. It remains unclear whether progressive and Arab American voters who protested against Biden in the primaries – especially in the key swing state of Michigan – will pose a similar threat to Harris’ chances in November.
Harris will face intense pressure with her speech on Thursday night to introduce herself to Americans who are still unfamiliar with her background and beliefs. This is when Biden's Monday speech will be particularly crucial as he hands over the political reins of the party to Harris, while still in the White House.
Harris shifts the Democratic campaign from past to future
To further highlight the shift, Democrats will turn to former President Barack Obama on Tuesday night. Twenty years after he captivated Americans as an unknown Illinois legislator with his electrifying convention speech, and nearly eight years since he left the White House, the party will once again leverage Obama's rhetorical prowess.
Harris has made minimal errors in invigorating her party with an Obama-style optimism and hope. A vibrant convention could project an aura of unity and provide her with a polling boost ahead of the final sprint of the race.
Harris, leveraging her generational distinction from Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, is framing her campaign as a battle for America's future against a backdrop of substantial potential: Should she win in November, she'd become the first Black female president and the first Indian American president. At a boisterous rally in Philadelphia recently, where she introduced Walz as her running mate, Harris anchored her pitch to voters in liberty - economic chances, reproductive and voting rights, and safety from gun violence. "Tim and I have a message for Trump and others aiming to roll back our fundamental freedoms: We're not going back," she declared.
Harris, a former prosecutor and California's attorney general who jailed financial and sexual transgressors, has also developed a new rebuke against Trump, who has been arrested four times and awaits sentencing following his conviction in a hush money trial in New York. "I took on wrongdoers of all sorts - sexual predators, fraudsters, rule-breakers. So listen when I say: I know Donald Trump's kind," she stated.
To date, Harris' strategies have proven effective
Two polls published on the convention eve - from CBS News/YouGov and ABC News/The Washington Post/Ipsos - showed the vice president narrowly leading the ex-president. Battleground surveys indicate Harris is competent in crucial "blue wall" states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. She's also reopened avenues to the White House, including through Sun Belt states that seemed inaccessible when Biden was the nominee.
However, Harris is merely at the start of her contest with Trump, who's shown a readiness to do anything - even threatening democracy - to attain power. The former president has, for instance, began referring to the switch from Biden to Harris as an unconstitutional "coup," engendering concerns he's preparing to challenge another democratic election if he loses in November.
Trump launched a fresh onslaught on Harris over the weekend following her economic plan announcement, which comprised a vow to reduce housing costs and employ federal power to curb supermarket titans accused of inflating prices. Trump seized on criticisms from numerous mainstream economists that the plan represented price controls in state-run economies that resulted in grocery store staples becoming scarce.
Harris' method, which is remarkably popularist and progressive, represents a gamble since Trump is already attempting to portray her as an excessive liberal and a Venezuelan-style socialist or communist.
Nevertheless, while it may involve questionable economics, Harris' plan could yield political dividends. She's wooing voters weary from years of inflation and high prices because of the pandemic. Polls still show Trump is more trusted on the economy than she is. However, at his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, Trump showed indications of worry that Harris had outflanked him on an issue on which his campaign has sought to anchor the election. He described the vice president's plan as "dangerous because it may sound good politically, and that's the problem."
Biden had framed his race against Trump as a struggle for the nation's soul and a crucial endeavor to conserve democracy. However, he also confronted his own unpopularity, particularly on the economy.
His prime-time address on the first night of the convention – instead of as initially scheduled on the final night, which is the spot reserved for the nominee – will symbolically underscore the shift in the Democratic ticket.
At his first formal event with Harris since he ended his reelection bid, Biden appeared moved by his reception from her crowd in suburban Maryland. This may have been a precursor of the adulation that will rain down from Chicago's United Center's rafters for a president who, despite his reluctance to leave the race, is regarded by his party as an emblem of political self-sacrifice and patriotism.
"President Biden will go down in American history as one of the most consequential presidents of all time," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries informed CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday. "He made a very selfless decision to pass the torch to Vice President Harris, who's a brave leader, a compassionate leader, and a commonsense leader."
This is precisely the message Democrats hope millions of Americans will absorb from their convention.
Despite initial admiration for Biden's decision to step down and pass the baton, politics surrounding his departure have been bittersweet. The 81-year-old president faced pressure from his party leaders to call off his reelection bid, leaving a potential void that his vice president, Kamala Harris, has worked hard to fill.
The shift in the Democratic campaign from Biden to Harris has been remarkable, especially considering that Harris has yet to earn a single vote for president. Her ability to energize the party and position herself as a change agent has left some Republican opponents disoriented and yearning for a rematch against Biden.
