Democratic presidential nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign stop in North Hampton, New Hampshire on September 4, 2024.
It’s never been easy sitting in the second spot in any job, especially if one covets the seat of numero uno. In Kenya, only one man enjoyed being number two. That’s the man Kenyans affectionately call Uncle Moody Awori.
All others – Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Joseph Murumbi, Daniel arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Josephat Karanja, Kijana Wamalwa, George Saitoti, Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka, William Ruto, and Rigathi Gachagua – were either hounded out of office, died on the job or suffered great ignominy while serving.
Mr Wamalwa’s life ended before history could pass judgement. Only three of these men rose to capture the top job. Even in America, the Vice President is hardly seen, or heard. She usually only attends funerals and perfunctory ceremonies.
On November 5, 2024, US Vice President Kamala Harris will most likely make history in more ways than one. The daughter of a Black Jamaican immigrant who became a famous US economics professor and an Indian immigrant mother who scaled the heights of science research, VP Harris will likely become the first Black woman of Indian descent to be elected President of the United States.
Her father, Prof Donald Harris, and her mother, the late Dr Shyamala Harris, produced a child of destiny. VP Harris’s journey to the top of the American political pyramid is nothing short of breathtaking. She’s a brilliant woman full of grit and charm who has been rewarded by perfect timing, fate, and good fortune.
Impressive curriculum vitae
Her rise to power isn’t a fluke, or some gift of nature. She cut her political and professional teeth as a tough-as-nails prosecutor in California where she also served as the state’s Attorney General. Let me give you some context. At $4 trillion or 1 per cent of US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), California has the largest economy of any American state. It would be the fifth largest economy in the world if it was a country.
Only the US, China, Germany, and Japan have larger economies. California’s economy dwarfs those of India, UK, France, Russia, Canada, and many others. So being elected Attorney General there is nothing to sneeze at. She is prepared and ready to assume the mantle of the mightiest nation in human history.
Don’t forget that before being chosen to deputise President Joe Biden, VP Harris was a senator (each one of the 50 US states elects two senators) from California. That’s an impressive curriculum vitae, or resume, if you will. She’s a lawyer and public inquisitor of no mean repute, as those who appeared before her in Senate hearings, including nominees to the US Supreme Court, can attest.
I say all of this to rubbish claims by Donald Trump, her Republican opponent, that Ms Harris is anything but a top-notch mind and a most accomplished public servant. Mr Trump himself — a cruel, racist, and misogynistic brat who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth — cannot hold even the tiniest candle to her.
Threats to American democracy
I have every expectation that Ms Harris will escape the curse of VPs and ascend to the top of the food chain. How will she do it? First, let’s remember that in the US, VPs know their roles and execute them to a tee because of the long tradition of that office. A running mate in the US is chosen by the grace of the nominee, including the calculations of electoral math, race, gender, chemistry, and deportment. They know their job is not to help lose the election but assist the winner in running a complex country. They don’t compete with their boss. Never. If they do, the party and the public will punish them from a very lethal political arsenal. But it never happens in any case.
Ms Harris was a fierce competitor to Mr Biden during the Democratic primaries before the convention in 2020. She gave him hell in several debates, even though she was best friends with his son Beau, who was Attorney General of Delaware, the Bidens home state. Their spat notwithstanding, Mr Biden tapped her as his running mate because he knew her smarts, good character, and judgement.
He wasn’t naïve either because it was African Americans, especially Black women, who handed him the nomination when he was floundering. He knew rewarding her would heighten Black support in the general election, which it did. The rest is history. It’s no wonder when Mr Biden exited the race, he gave her a ringing endorsement.
Finally, VP Harris has united the Democratic Party in a way I only saw then Senator Barack Obama do. Enthusiasm for her is palpable among Independents, the youth, women, workers, college-educated Americans, the press, and even among those Republicans tired of Mr Trump’s buffoonery, incivility, and threats to American democracy.
Opinion polls show her leads expending in key demographics and issues on which Mr Trump had enjoyed an advantage over President Biden. In elections, you don’t count your chickens until they hatch, but VP Harris is poised to make history.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. On X: @makaumutua.
