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There seems to be new life in the Democratic Party. To be fair, I was not a fan of the public cajoling of President Biden to step down after his horrendous debate performance. I believed at the time, he could bounce back, and I was ridin’ with Biden. Look, I would take a stuttering old man over another old man looking to become an autocrat with the force of MAGA, Project 2025 supporters behind him.
Even at our state Democratic Party convention on July 19, I said as much to all the state delegates. I used my time introducing our party platform to encourage my fellow Democrats to get behind this campaign because the lives of individuals in marginalized communities would be at risk if the former president won another term. The hypocrisy of the “individual freedom,” “Don’t Tread on Me” crowd is stupefying. But I do get it. Some people want the power to control everything, including the freedoms of fellow Americans. They won’t call it that, but their actions and policy proposals say otherwise.
To be fair, I did understand my fellow Democrats’ concerns—I watched the debate, too.
But then, the unthinkable happened, Biden stepped down and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. As a woman of color, who, in 2016, watched misogyny and sexism rain down like an Indiana spring storm when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put a million cracks in that glass ceiling, I couldn’t be more thrilled to witness the ascent of the vice president. She has now entered the nation’s consciousness.
The vice president is the very essence of the American dream. Born to immigrant parents on Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, Harris would go on to attend the HBCU Howard University, graduating in 1986. She would earn her law degree in 1989 from the University of California, Hastings College of Law, being admitted to the bar in 1990. She began her law career in the Office of the District Attorney of Alameda County before working in the San Francisco DA’s office.
In 2010, she was elected attorney general of California and would win re-election in 2014. Having won two statewide races, Harris in 2016 would become only the second Black woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Having decided the 45th president was not what our nation needed, in 2019 she threw her hat in the ring for president of the United States; however, she dropped out before the Iowa caucuses. Biden, who won the Democratic nomination, listened to Black women, who were critical in securing South Carolina for him, selected Harris to be his running mate, and won the 2020 election.
Now here we are, with the opportunity to save our democracy and make history all at the same time. Trust, know and believe, the MAGA crew is shaking in their boots. Already, the Republican candidate has waffled on whether he will stand by his commitment to debate Harris. I hope he does, because the side-by-side comparison of the two will become crystal clear. The found-fraudulent, convicted felon versus the person who actually worked in law and order.
While he hurls insults, she will offer policies for the future. He will huff and puff and stick his chest out. But I guarantee, as a former big-city prosecutor, she has come across tougher humans than him. Yes, Harris is the new life our party and our nation need.•
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Black is former deputy chairwoman for engagement for the Indiana Democratic Party
and a former candidate for the Indiana House. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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saving democracy by installing a candidate nobody voted for. makes perfect sense to me.
she owns the last 4 years and it is a disaster. True leaders aren’t afraid of hurting peoples feelings.
Actually, Kamala Harris was voted for as VP in 2020 and as VP in the primaries. We all can choose to vote for her in November so to say that nobody voted for her is not accurate.
As a Republican, Gerald Ford was VP and then President and nobody voted for him for either VP or President until he ran in the 1976 election. President Ford was a decent and honorable individual as is VP Kamala Harris.
Trying and threatening to overthrow the government and democratic processes (as well as saying no voting is needed in 2028) by one of the presidential candidates is the real threat to democracy here.
Hey Kelvin, this overthrowing of democratic processes you’re referring to, would that be the massive voting fraud that occurred in 2020? You know, the ones where your ilk says they were tried in court but in actuality were never allowed to proceed due to our cowardly and corrupt judicial process? And who exactly is threatening to overthrow the government? Surely you’re not referring to the unarmed Jan 6 protesters who were goaded into entering the Capitol by scores of Federal agents and operatives that was orchestrated by Pelosi? Or do you recognize the anifa/BLM terrorists for what they really are? And for the record, Kamala couldn’t even survive her own Democratic primary she is so universally disliked. No one did, or would have, voted her in as a candidate for President, she is a Communist , flip flopping tyrant who got brought in as a DEI hire by a senile, corrupt racist to win an election he didn’t actually win #lol81million votes. Go ahead and put lipstick on this pig, anyone with a lick of common sense knows there’s a reason your candidate has not taken any unscripted questions since Biden was pushed out (Pelosi’s work once again) and Kamala was installed, she’s as vacuous a balloon and not nearly as delightful.