Speculation about a possible White House bid from Vice President Kamala Harris surged in the aftermath of Joe Biden‘s first presidential debate with Donald Trump on June 27, during which the president repeatedly appeared to lose his train of thought and renewed concern about his age, 81, and mental acumen.
In response, the odds on Harris being the Democratic presidential candidate in November surged and she became the favorite for this role with one leading bookmaker, sparking heightened speculation about what a Harris presidency could look like.
Speaking to Newsweek, one prominent political scientist said a Harris presidency would likely “put more emphasis on minorities” and identity issues than Biden’s administration, though a second warned the White House could be “filled with more dissent and dysfunction” as a result of her leadership style.
Mark Shanahan, political scientist who teaches at the University of Surrey in the U.K., told Newsweek that Harris would likely focus more on identity issues if elected in November.
“Joe Biden’s an East Coast insider, a Beltway political animal. While her key policy stances differ little from the president, his Veep, Kamala Harris is a California liberal, likely to put more emphasis on minorities in areas such as education and housing, on working class welfare programs and on such liberal measures as liberalizing marijuana.
“She’s more than 20 years younger than Biden and has a very different energy from him and, of course, is a woman of color. But she’s also a lawyer with a long history as a pretty hard-nosed prosecutor. So what the Democrats would get with a Harris candidacy is intriguing: an energized, passionate enigma—the policy-liberal, centrist-prosecutor,” Shanahan said.
Thomas Gift, who heads the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, warned there are questions about Harris’ organizational abilities, which could have a substantial impact if she’s elected president.
“There’s some worry that a Harris White House could be filled with more dissent and dysfunction than Biden’s. Earlier on in her vice presidency, reports suggested that her office was poorly managed, insular, and chaotic. Critics say that’s a reflection of her management style. What’s undeniable is that her office was marked by high staff turnover and a number of damaging leaks. Whether Harris could right that ship if she were in the Oval Office is unclear,” Gift said.
During her 2020 presidential bid, before she became Biden’s running mate, Harris called for the introduction of “Medicare for All,” to be phased in over 10 years and with private insurers able to compete with government providers. The plan was at the time condemned by Biden’s campaign as “Bernie Sanders-lite” and “a refusal to be straight with the American middle class.”
In 2020, Harris also called for the federal minimum wage to be raised to $15 per hour, a stark increase to the current level of $7.25, and similar to the $16 per hour minimum wage introduced by California at the start of this year. The policy has proved controversial, with an investigation published by The Wall Street Journal in March linking it to job cuts in the restaurant industry.
Harris also pledged during her presidential bid to use executive action to remove barriers to getting a green card, and ultimately citizenship, from so-called “Dreamers,” a term for the then-roughly 2 million undocumented migrants who were living in the U.S. after arriving in the country as children.
Before entering Congress, Harris served as a prosecutor, rising first to the district attorney of San Francisco and later the attorney general of California. In 2019, she called for a halt on federal mandatory minimum sentences, the end of the federal death penalty and a phasing out of for-profit prisons.
In March of this year, Harris said, “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,” during a discussion with rapper Fat Joe, according to Reuters.
