Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is trying to dismantle the argument that she isn’t “electable.”
The 2020 presidential candidate broached the topic late Sunday during her speech at an NAACP event in Detroit. She ripped political commentators for stereotyping Midwest voters the Democratic Party needs to rebuild the so-called “blue wall” post-2016 and forgetting women and minorities who live in urban centers like the Motor City.
“And the conversation too often suggests certain voters will only vote for certain candidates regardless of whether their ideas will lift up all our families. It’s short sighted. It’s wrong. And voters deserve better,” Harris said in a veiled reference to Democratic primary front-runners Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, two white men.
A slew of recent polls suggest the No. 1 priority for likely Democratic primary voters is which presidential candidate can beat President Trump in next year’s general election. That pressure is evidently weighing on the minds of Harris’ fellow White House hopefuls.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has had some success in conservative districts in her home state of New York, said that the “first-blush analysis” about female leaders “is inadequate” and touted her “experience” and “track record” as making her the best-suited person to defeat Trump.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was asked last month by a young female student during a CNN town hall how she would avoid getting “Hillary-d” by Trump in 2020, a reference to Hillary Clinton. Warren said the secret was grassroots organizing. But Harris is the first to tackle the critique head-on.
[Also read: Female Democrats dish on running for president: No one ever asks if a man can win]
Pollster John Zogby told the Washington Examiner there were obviously “two completely different standards” for women presidential candidates, but that was an inescapable reality given the country’s “shameful” lack of experience vetting female contenders. He added that most “non-top tier” and “non-traditional” White House prospects all have to make some sort of “electability” pitch.
“We’re just feeling our way through, but there’s definitely been a shift from fundamentally older white men since a younger black man with ‘Hussein’ for a middle name,” Zogby said of how the electorate judges women after former President Barack Obama.
Some pundits assert that a double standard means Harris has to modulate her behavior on the campaign trail but is freer in Washington, D.C.
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon described her grilling of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last year and Attorney General William Barr last week as “very aggressive,” a characteristic she cannot “afford” to exhibit in an early-voting state like Iowa where retail politics is key — but allowed her to “dominate” national media coverage.
“My impression is that she’s also toned down her law and order credentials because being tough on crime won’t necessarily help her win the nomination, but it may help her beat Trump next fall,” Bannon said.
Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist based in South Carolina, disagreed, saying he believed Harris was “consistent about who she is.”
“She’s not making any adjustments, and I think a lot of that has to do with the elevation of Hillary Clinton in 2016 as the first female candidate to become her party’s nominee,” Seawright said.
Harris is ranked equal fourth in RealClearPolitics’ polling average as of Monday, tying with South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 7.2% support. Biden, Sanders, and Warren occupy the first three positions.
[Opinion: Pundits are overrating the importance of ‘electability’ for 2020 Democratic voters]
