Kamala Harris Can Win. Stop Saying She’s “Unelectable.”

In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter) that sent shockwaves through our timelines Sunday, President Biden ended his second presidential campaign citing that “it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” I know everyone is tired of living through unprecedented times, but I can’t begin to underscore how monumental this decision was, coming a mere month before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. While many are stunned and afraid of the potential ramifications of the Democrats changing their candidate this late in the game, it’s clear that President Biden answered the calls of both his party and the people in passing the baton to his Vice President, Kamala Harris. And that’s good news. Democrats up and down the ballot now have a renewed shot at shifting the face and substance of the party. In one day, new life and energy has been breathed into an election cycle that was previously on life support. Before we surrender to doom, let us remember that no one elected official will ever be our savior, but that Harris is standing at the ready and shouldn’t be counted out.

In subsequent tweets to the signed letter he first shared, Biden went on to endorse Harris as the next Democratic nominee for President and encouraged his supporters to donate to her campaign. Technically speaking, a nominee isn’t confirmed until the convention when the delegates will ultimately decide the candidate and anything could happen, but Harris is a logical next step. A presidential campaign requires infrastructure, visibility, and lots of money. Inherently, Harris has all three already set up by nature of being the sitting Vice President and part of the fore-running campaign. After months of complaints about the old white men leading us on a path to destruction, social media users suddenly have a young Black and South Asian woman to look to and to hold accountable. Hillary and Bill Clinton endorsed Harris within an hour of Biden’s announcement going live showing that many senior Democrats are already getting in line for her. After thanking and honouring Biden, Harris wrote in her statement that she intends “to earn and win this nomination.” As professor Brittney Cooper said in an interview with The Cut, “make Joe Biden’s back the bridge to a new democracy and let Kamala walk over it.”

Nothing is promised, especially with former President Obama encouraging an open nomination process, but new possibilities are opened with Kamala Harris as the  potential presidential nominee and a new Vice President at her side. To secure the nomination this August, Harris can paint a proactive vision for America. This may be asking too much of a politician with her history (as much as people want to tout Harris as a progressive candidate, she is a former tough-on-crime prosecutor with a track record full of contradictions). In the best-case scenario, Harris can deliver a campaign that reflects the nation’s diversity not only symbolically but in policy. Without throwing her predecessor under the bus, Harris can design her platform as she sees fit and account for the shortcomings of the past four years. She can vow to be more aggressive in defending and codifying our civil and human rights to reproductive healthcare and marriage equality via Supreme Court appointments and congressional action. She could promise to do more for working class people and families that are begging for relief and organizing unions around their collective power. She could honor less patriarchal forms of conflict resolution, easing the trauma and devastation experienced across Palestine while winning back states like Michigan. The world is now Kamala Harris’ oyster, if she accepts the challenge to unite and inspire Democrats from all walks of life. And if we let her. 

To win in November, Democrats need radical imagination and mighty political will — yet, right now, most Americans are debating the country’s readiness for any Black woman in office. But, we are America. It is our job to make ourselves, our neighbors, our colleagues, and our loved ones ready. The idea that Black women are “unelectable” is a self-fulfilling prophecy that only proves true because we allow it. Brianna Baker, founder and executive director of Justice for Black Girls, reiterates that “Black women are overqualified to be President and have been since Shirley placed her bid.” In the first five hours after announcing her candidacy, Kamala Harris raised nearly $30 million from small-dollar donors, and over 1 million was raised in less than three hours during a Win with Black Women Zoom call. People should spend a lot less time fixating on whether Kamala Harris’ Black womanhood is a liability, and instead focus on what her campaign promises and platform messaging need to be to win. 

Americans have voted for a Black man twice and don’t forget that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, as well. Yet, as New York Times-bestselling author Austin Channing Brown said in an Instagram post, “What I know is that there are all kinds of people who would vote for a white woman or a Black man but will not vote for a Black woman because of that very specific intersection.” Misogynoir is real. We have to acknowledge the specific vitriol that is about to come Harris' way in this campaign while also refusing to disregard her before she's even given a chance (something Black women also know too well). Writer and politico Tenicka Boyd wrote a similar sentiment saying, “All the Black women I know are afraid... I trust Kamala with this country. I don’t trust this country with her.” 

The road to the Presidency will not be easy for Democrats, even with Biden stepping down. Donald Trump’s campaign has mobilized his preexisting base of white supremacists and right-wing conservatives while also appealing to young people and celebrities such as Sexxy Red, Amber Rose, and Hulk Hogan. In many ways, Kamala represents everything Trump has galvanized his followers to help defeat. The conservative political manifesto, Project 2025, is already in motion and causing great alarm to lovers of justice. Unfortunately, while Harris has been a great symbol of the changing face of power, she doesn’t have her own progressive plan that answers it. During her 2020 campaign for President, Kamala Harris’ Achilles heel was her record working within the criminal legal system to prosecute working class parents and resist opportunities to right the wrongs of wrongful incarceration or police brutality. Some of the stronger stances she became known for — promising monthly stimulus checks, leaning into her family’s migration story, and denouncing Biden as a segregationist — were then walked back when Harris served as his Vice President, running point on a worsening immigration crisis. 

The need to move boldly on climate change, criminal justice, immigration, gun violence, and abortion access is increasingly urgent and surface level identity politics cannot be the Democratic Party’s Hail Mary plan. Harris will still have an uphill climb ahead of her, all in the face of racism and sexism. She will need to restore faith in government at a time when people feel neglected and lied to. She must answer for valid critiques of her — and Biden’s — track record while convincing others she has the foresight and vision to chart a new path. She’ll have to trade her vague motivational quips for bold swings so that people trust her as the leader of the wealthiest and one of the most inequitable nations in the world. She’ll need to earn America’s moral high ground and foreign policy authority. And she’s got to do it all while identifying the right Vice President to stand and work by her side without eclipsing her. 

The abolitionist in me is skeptical about Harris’ willingness to put the people before the posturing and develop an authentic commitment to the most marginalized among us. But the abolitionist in me also knows that change is possible — inevitable even. People do evolve and I hope that Kamala Harris transforms into the leader we need most. It’s a huge undertaking with only three and a half months to go; but Harris can pull it off. Remember, the alternative is a white supremacist dictator who rolled back abortion access so we shouldn’t discredit Harris before she’s even on the ballot.