In case it wasn’t obvious before, last night cemented the fact that 2020 primary front-runner Joe Biden should not and will not choose opponent Kamala Harris as his running mate should he win the nomination. Although politicos have previously touted the idea as an easy way for Biden to check off intersectional boxes for his bid, the idea never made much sense.
For starters, Biden’s already consolidated about half of the black vote and would likely inspire a significant amount of the turnout President Barack Obama did. But as last night indicated, Harris isn’t just a bad faith politician. She’s also a bad one.
Telegenic and authoritative, Harris has obvious stage presence and a willingness to shiv her enemies that carried her from state attorney general to a presidential bid in a matter of two years. But in striking Biden first with an attack so ludicrous that it garnered condemnation from his his competitors, she opened herself up to the first real fire she’s faced since her longshot bid for San Francisco’s District Attorney 15 years ago.
And she faltered. She looked vindictive, cruel, and unelegant. Californians have long known that she has ghosts haunting her political past, and she’s scarcely entered the national arena. She has no legislative accomplishments to speak of and a dismal record as a career prosecutor. By throwing herself into the belly of the beast while still this vulnerable, she may have aborted her West Wing dreams, because Biden sure as hell won’t pick Harris as his running mate.
Harris wouldn’t just be ineffective at delivering Biden more black voters as he already has them for a lock, but she could also cost him the Obama-Trump country required to reclaim the Oval Office.
If Biden wanted a candidate to help him turn out women, he could go for someone like Amy Klobuchar, who routinely wins her D+1 state in the Midwest by 20-odd points. Or Biden could bet on Pete Buttigieg as a gift to the party. The millennial mayor may have the most raw political talent on the stage, but he has no obvious office to run for after he inevitably loses the race. Republicans are destined to occupy Indiana’s statewide offices — if anything, they’ve consolidated their dominance in the last decade — leaving Buttigieg’s political future at the mercy of a Democratic president, plucking him from South Bend and appointing him to his Cabinet. And seeing as Biden would be our oldest president ever, Buttigieg could prove a useful protégé and one who still ticks off at least one intersectional box.
The other two most likely candidates, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have no real need for Harris on a ticket. Given the lack of friendly fire between the two this week, it seems entirely possible that Sanders could pick Warren as a running mate if he earned the nomination, and Warren could benefit more from the Texan Julián Castro or even New Jersey’s Cory Booker rather than an elite Californian.
In any case, Harris better play to win, because the second-place job just got a whole lot less likely for her.
