Following Vice President Kamala Harris’s complete shellacking at the polls last Tuesday, many Democrats are wondering if their party needs to rethink its commitment to identity-based politics.
It cannot be denied that Harris’s racial and gender identity assisted her rapid political ascent, shielding her from much-deserved scrutiny and opening up career opportunities that were denied to less-desired demographics.
Harris’s first crack at the presidency, which focused heavily on pandering to different identity groups, was a total flop. The then-senator from California spent most of the year jet-setting across the country to lecture voters on the scourge of supposed “systemic racism” and the importance of respecting so-called “gender identities.”
Harris’s identity obsession and credulity were best exemplified when she immediately defended actor Jussie Smollett’s hate crime hoax, in which Smollett alleged to have been attacked by racist Trump supporters sporting MAGA hats and gasoline canisters in the midst of a bone-chilling winter night. The presidential hopeful lauded the hoaxer as “one of the kindest” people she knew and called the alleged incident a “modern-day lynching.”
Notably, Harris stated in 2019 that she supported defunding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and funding sex-change surgeries for illegal immigrants. She embraced the idea of handing out reparations to black people. During a debate in the 2020 Democratic primary, she attacked then-former Vice President Joe Biden for opposing racial busing policies, a program that Harris, herself, later clarified that she does not personally support.
Harris’s 2024 campaign do-over was admittedly less “woke” than her first go-round. She did not personally talk much about her racial or gender identity while on the stump. She also did not passionately respond to President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that she fabricated her racial identity out of political convenience. She only started making targeted appeals to black and Latino men in the closing stretch of the campaign when it became apparent that her support was flagging among those key demographics.
Nonetheless, whatever “lesson” the Democrats and Harris learned about identity politics came far too late. It was always obvious to any observer that Harris was far from the best choice for vice president. Biden vowed to select a woman as his running mate late in the 2020 Democratic primary, mostly to mollify a party base flustered that two old white men, Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), outlasted a kaleidoscopic sea of minorities and female candidates.
Moreover, furor over the killing of George Floyd pressured Biden into picking a black woman. Since there are a small number of black women in national politics, Biden was forced to pick from a group of limited options. Harris was, quite frankly, the best Biden could do given the set of identity restrictions he had placed upon himself.
Over her four years in office, Harris has often found herself the target of ridicule over her struggle to string together coherent thoughts. When asked to speak extemporaneously, Harris often spews out fuzzy, feel-good word salad. Simply put, Harris is a completely lousy communicator, and everyone knows it.
Harris’s weaknesses and unpopularity were so obvious that when Democratic leaders cornered Biden and forced him to drop out of the race, they were hoping to start an open primary. But Biden dashed all hopes of a proper primary contest when he immediately endorsed Harris upon his exit, effectively boxing in the party and saddling it with a deeply flawed nominee.
Former President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer allegedly did not want Harris as the party nominee and were slow to endorse as a result. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has issued veiled criticism of Biden, saying that had he dropped out sooner, the party would’ve had the chance to evaluate and select a better nominee.
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The Harris campaign was then forced largely to limit the vice president’s exposure to the media out of fear that she would make gaffes. As Election Day neared, her aides were forced to send Harris to more interviews, in which she unsurprisingly struggled to articulate her positions or step outside of Biden’s shadow.
All of this could’ve been avoided had Biden and Democrats selected the best possible vice president instead of narrowing their choices with identity qualifiers. To be clear, there are certainly black people and women qualified and capable of filling all positions. However, they should be evaluated with the same criteria as all other candidates.
Corey Walker is a Washington, D.C.-based reporter who focuses on institutional capture, education, and public safety.