After months and weeks of speculation, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden finally announced his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris. Despite the long speculation, his choice wasn’t very surprising at all. I would venture to say there really wasn’t anyone else for Biden to pick. Despite her attack on Biden during one of the Democratic primary debates, her relationship with Biden’s late son Beau and the relationship she built with the Bidens prior to her presidential run made Harris a likely choice from the beginning. Harris, out of all other candidates, just seemed to be the right fit for Biden’s ticket.
There remains a lot of skepticism about Harris among the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, but that skepticism is misplaced. A recent New York Times article, “Progressives Didn’t Want Harris for V.P. They’re Backing Her Anyway,” focused on progressives who wanted Biden to choose one of their own, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren or California Rep. Karen Bass. Even though Harris wasn’t their preference, progressive activists have signaled they will back Biden.
However, progressive concerns about Harris are misplaced. Attempts by some in the media to characterize Harris as a centrist are not only misplaced but blatantly wrong. In Harris, progressives will find that they have an ally who is more closely aligned with them than they think. Sure, Harris ran a campaign that never truly found its ideological footing, which I wrote about in a previous piece called, “Four reasons Kamala Harris failed,” but if you take a closer look, choosing Harris was a strategic move for the Biden campaign to unite the progressive front.
According to Progressive Punch, a website dedicated to rating senators on how progressive their voting record is, Harris’s voting history places her as the fourth-most-progressive senator based on her voting record — even more progressive than Warren, who ranks fifth, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who ranks 10th.
Based on her record, Harris is undoubtedly a progressive. She tries to play the inside game to push and advocate for the issues she’s most passionate about, which shows she is both strategic and has rather good political instincts.
There’s a lot that can be said about Harris and her constantly evolving positions, but one thing that can’t be questioned is her voting record. Instead of trying to paint her as a centrist Democrat, which she is not, the Biden campaign would be smart to allow her true colors to shine because it brings balance to the ticket. Convincing progressives to vote for him isn’t enough for Biden — he needs to energize them so that lukewarm Biden supporters can close the enthusiasm gap with President Trump’s passionate base. That’s possible if progressives actually know that their party’s presidential nominee chose a running mate who is closely aligned with them.
The election is going to be close. Trump has secured maximum support from his base, guaranteeing high turnout from Trump Republicans and Republican-leaning voters. The onus is on the Biden campaign to shore up progressives to solidify the party’s base.
Trump’s campaign and its allies will probably target Harris based on her previous statements that caused division among the various wings of the Democratic Party, and it may just work. It could yield the type of results that narrowly swing the election for Trump.
Progressives don’t trust or like Biden, which makes it even more bewildering why Democrats seem so gung-ho on painting Harris as something she’s not: a centrist, establishment figure. It’s clear she’s a progressive who is good at playing the establishment game — so good that she might just play her way into the vice presidency.
Shermichael Singleton (@Shermichael_) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a Republican strategist and a political analyst regularly appearing on MSNBC.
