Flawed as she may be, Harris’s candidacy has transformed the playing field

President Joe Biden’s calamitous debate performance last month plunged the Democratic Party into a three-week period of utter despondency. With little more than four months left until the election, the party’s standard bearer, the spavined leader they’d rigged the primary to anoint, crashed and burned on the national stage. Voters witnessed firsthand what party insiders knew and tried to cover up for years: The president was not fit to serve.

Post-debate polling results were pointing to a landslide victory for former President Donald Trump, which would also hurt the Democrats’ chances of retaining the Senate and taking back the House.