Is Kamala Harris a DEI Candidate? Let's Review the Facts

It's a Taboo Subject, but It Shouldn't Be

Democrats and their fellow travelers in the media are outraged that some on the right have tarnished Kamala Harris as a “DEI candidate.” It could be a risky strategy for Republicans because some voters may find the DEI branding offensive. But in this era of ubiquitous DEI initiatives in every sphere of life, the topic of DEI and Ms. Harris rise shouldn’t be off limits simply because some find it offensive.

The New York Times Daily podcast recently released an episode detailing their reporters’ reporting trip to Dunn County, Wisconsin, a largely white working class area where they embedded with volunteers canvassing door-to-door on behalf of the Harris campaign. I was struck by the observations of Kate, a 38-year-old woman they met who said she typically votes for Democrats. Of Harris, Kate said, “I don’t want her winning just because she’s a woman of color, a woman. Not just because you check those boxes. That doesn’t seem like a fair win either.”

Such concerns about Harris’ legitimacy and competence will intensify if she continues to stiff arm the media. And so, it’s worth reviewing Mr. Biden’s decision to add Ms. Harris to the ticket, to evaluate what role her race and gender played in securing her spot on the ticket. Harris suspended her campaign for President on December 3, 2019, two months prior to the Iowa caucuses. A Hill/Harris X poll released a day before put her at 2% support, tied with Tom Steyer, Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar, and Andrew Yang, and behind Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, and Michael Bloomberg.

In retrospect, it still seems unorthodox at the least to pick a candidate who garnered so little support and had only one prominent moment in the five debates she participated in—her “that little girl was me” set piece, when she all but accused Joe Biden of being a racist who palled around with segregationists and opposed school busing schemes.

So how did Harris vault ahead of her rivals? In a March 16 debate with Bernie Sanders Biden said, “I commit that I’ll pick a woman to be Vice President.” Sanders, by contrast, wasn’t as unequivocal, saying “in all likelihood” he’d pick a woman. Then on July 20, Biden was asked on MSNBC if he’d further narrow the field by committing to picking a black woman. He stopped short of doing so but strongly suggested that he would, reassuring Joy Reid that he had four black women as finalists for the job. "Black women have supported me my whole career," Biden said. "I have been loyal, and they have been loyal to me — and so it's important that my administration, I promise you, will look like America."

‘Kamala Can Rub Some People the Wrong Way’

A New York Times piece published on the VP candidates just a few days before Biden made his pick said Biden was assessing an “array of factors” including whether to choose a Black woman.” The piece also said, “Clearly…Mr. Biden is facing the most intense lobbying to choose a Black running mate.” The authors of the piece said that then Rep. Karen Bass (now the mayor of Los Angeles) and Susan Rice, both black, were “among the leading contenders,” while describing Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris as “possibilities.” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was depicted as a “long-shot candidate.”

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is black, was described as a “wild card.” Weeks later, after Ms. Harris was selected, the Associated Press reported that Ms. Whitmer took herself out of contention and advised Biden to pick a black woman. The Times accurately described Biden’s decision as “enormously consequential and highly delicate because of the “unresolved question of whether Biden would run again this year.  “With his selection, Mr. Biden may be effectively coronating the next Democratic presidential nominee and charting the party’s course for the next decade.” Indeed.

A number of prominent Democrats, including former Senator Christopher Dodd, Rep. Filemon Vela of Texas, New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, California Rep. Ro Khanna, told The Times they backed Ms. Bass and some expressed a lack of confidence in Harris.

Mr. Dodd is scarcely alone in his lack of enthusiasm for Ms. Harris, whose own presidential campaign never matched its high expectations… One Democrat close to Mr. Biden’s campaign said its polling indicated that Ms. Harris has little allure with Black voters. More telling, a Biden campaign official reached out to The New York Times, unprompted, to say that some of the former vice president’s own staff members are not supportive of her.

California Democrats, including several in Congress, have expressed their wariness about Ms. Harris to Mr. Biden’s advisers.

CNN also published a reading the tea leaves piece suggesting that Ms. Bass was emerging as the top contender, with Harris and Susan Rice remaining as competition. CNN reported that Bass was the pick of Nancy Pelosi and other “influential California Democrats.” CNN’s reporters reflected the fact that there was plenty of concern about putting Harris on the ticket at the time.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. and Biden supporter Ed Rendell, who said he currently does not have a favorite in the search for a running mate, said in an interview that Bass is seen as a “very safe choice” in a way that Harris simply is not. “Kamala can rub some people the wrong way. Karen Bass is not likely to do that,” Rendell said.

So how did Kamala Harris still get the job, despite the intense lobbying against her? She isn’t from a strategic state—in fact, one could argue that California is the least strategic choice for a VP because many Americans perceive it as a hotbed of progressive activism. In all likelihood, Biden ended up picking Harris because he felt that he needed to pick a black female candidate and Harris, as a senator, outranked the other top contenders, who were mayors or congresspeople or, in the case of Rice, a diplomat with no campaign experience.

A Politico/Morning Consult poll released the week before Biden selected Kamala Harris as his running mate revealed that only 28% of registered voters and just 45% of Democrats thought it was very or somewhat important that he pick a running mate that was a “person of color.” And just 33% overall and 32% of women said it was very or somewhat important that he pick a woman as a running mate. But 51% of Democrats said it was important that Biden pick a woman and 42% of black voters said it was very or somewhat important that he pick a running mate that was a person of color. Surely Biden understood that alienating 42% of black voters could have been political suicide for him.

The fact that most Americans of all stripes—men, women, black, Hispanic, white, Democrats, Republicans—didn’t think it was critical for Biden to pick a person of color as his running mate takes us back to voters like Kate, the Wisconsin Democrat who expressed reservations supporting Harris just because she “checks boxes.” Kate didn’t and likely wouldn’t use the term “DEI candidate” but her point was that she wanted to see Harris earn her vote and win the election based on merit.

The evidence that Harris was picked largely based on her race and gender is overwhelming. The President picked one of his least popular rivals and the only one who accused him of racism. And the fact that the Vice President identifies as a black woman made it politically impossible for the Democrats to overlook her when it became clear they wanted to topple Biden at the top of the ticket. Still, Republicans would likely be wise to stop branding her as a “DEI candidate” because they’re already performing poorly in the polls with female and minority voters and these sort of attacks probably aren’t helping.

Though she is now ahead in the polls, Harris has a tricky dilemma in her quest to close the sale on November 5. Is it smart politics for her to stick to a teleprompter? Given her penchant for making gaffes, perhaps it is in the short term. Trump is a weak enough candidate that she could play it safe and still win if she can make the election a referendum on Trump’s fitness for office rather than hers. For years, Harris has been talking about “what can be, unburdened by what has been.” The best way she can unburden herself from her undemocratic coronation at the top of the ticket and her DEI baggage is to prove herself on the national stage by acting like a normal Presidential candidate— one who isn’t terrified of a press corps that clearly adores her and desperately wants her to succeed.