Kamala Harris takes center stage. Can she save the Democrats? - Los Angeles Times
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Kamala Harris takes center stage. Can she save the Democrats?

A woman speaks at a podium
Kamala Harris speaks after then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden introduced her as his running mate during a campaign event in Wilmington, Del., in 2020.
(Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
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Good morning. It’s Monday, July 22. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

What does Biden’s decision mean for Kamala Harris?

After weeks of speculation and calls from fellow Democrats to leave the presidential race, President Biden officially dropped out of the 2024 election yesterday. Before a single “Beauty School Dropout” song parody or “College Dropout” meme could hit the internet, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. So, now what?

While questions swirl about what the process to replace Biden on the ticket will look like, voters and opposition will dig into Harris’ life and background, again, like they did in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

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Harris’ journey from California attorney general to the first woman and person of color to become vice president was historic in itself, but now many on the left will look to her to take another historic step amid political rhetoric that has become more aggressive and divisive since she last ran for president.

If she becomes the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee, it would make history on several levels (the last native Californian to lead a major party presidential ticket was Richard Nixon). This is Harris’ moment, one built over the course of three decades, from local politics in San Francisco to a series of firsts that included a U.S. Senate seat and taking on the role of vice president.

Kamala Harris sworn in as a senator.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden administers the Senate oath of office to Kamala Harris, alongside her husband, Douglas Emhoff, in January 2017.
(Kevin Wolf / Associated Press)
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What’s next?

In a statement released yesterday, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said, “[I]n the coming days, the Party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November. This process will be governed by established rules and procedures of the Party. Our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility in swiftly delivering a candidate to the American people.”

Before Biden’s announcement that he would leave the race, many speculated on who might replace him on the ticket, but as of Sunday, no other candidate had thrown their hat in the ring.

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“Several recent polls show Harris is now in close striking distance, within 1 or 2 percentage points, in a head-to-head matchup against former President Trump,” my colleague Noah Bierman reported.

Noah also reported that Harris “has ground to make up against Trump, and her national approval rating, although improved, remains at about 39%, compared with 50% of voters who don’t approve of her, according to the latest 538 polling average. She also has ground to make up in swing states, according to polls.”

It has been more than 50 years since a major party nominee was selected outside of the democratic process of primaries and caucuses. Next month, at the Democratic National Convention, delegates will formally select a new nominee for their party.

In an op-ed for The Times, government professor Philip Klinkner wrote, “Some Democrats are worried that a new nominee, selected by the convention, will ... lack legitimacy because she or he will have secured the nomination without direct input from Democratic voters around the country.”

But that minus may be balanced by an unusual plus — a shared desire to avoid chaos — as Noah reports.

“Another advantage for Harris,” he writes, “is that many delegates have said they are eager for a smooth process, given the chaotic preceding weeks.”

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In the coming days, we will find out more about the party’s plans to replace Biden on the ticket and what the process will look like.

Who is Kamala Harris?

Harris is a product of the Golden State. She made a name for herself in California as the state’s attorney general, then senator.

The Times staff compiled a list of everything you need to know about Harris. Here are some of the highlights:

California roots

  • Harris was born in Oakland to parents who had come to California to study at UC Berkeley. Harris spent several years as a child in Oakland and Berkeley, but after her parents divorced, she and her mother moved to Canada.
  • After graduating from the UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, Harris worked her way up in the Alameda County and San Francisco County district attorney’s offices. Harris was San Francisco district attorney from 2004 to 2010.
  • Harris started dating entertainment attorney Doug Emhoff and permanently relocated to Brentwood by the time they married in 2014.
  • In 2016, Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate, leaving her California job to take office early in 2017.

Political beginnings and the national stage

  • As attorney general, she started implicit-bias training for law enforcement, and as district attorney she launched a program that enabled first-time nonviolent offenders to have their charges dismissed if they finished job training. Critics have faulted her, though, for working in court to uphold California’s death penalty, despite her personal opposition, and for her threats to jail parents of chronically truant schoolchildren.
  • In 2019, she began her campaign for U.S. president. She raised $1.5 million in just 24 hours. But her campaign slowly sputtered. As The Times reported in March 2019, the fall “stems in part from Harris’ failure to present a compelling case for her candidacy beyond her background as a prosecutor, her buoyant personality and a deep contempt — shared by others in the contest — for President Trump.” In December, she suspended her campaign.
  • Harris has endured unprecedented levels of hate on social media. “Research shows that Harris may be the most targeted American politician on the internet, one who checks every box for the haters of the fever swamps: She’s a woman, she’s a person of color and she holds power,” The Times found.

More on Harris and Biden’s decision to drop out:

Today’s top stories

Two men stand on a stage.
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance arrive at a campaign rally Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
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Meanwhile on the Republican ticket ...

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For your downtime

A raw bar platter from Fishing With Dynamite
Just blocks from the Manhattan Beach pier, Fishing With Dynamite serves a seafood-centric menu with oysters and raw bar platters.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

An instructor leads a class
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Today’s great photo is from staff photographer Genaro Molina. Molina captured this shot in the Balance Challenge Class at the Culver City Senior Center.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Shelby Grad, deputy managing editor for news
Amy Hubbard, deputy editor, Fast Break

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