What should we expect (on climate) from Kamala Harris?

Kamala Harris could take over the reins from Joe Biden for the 2024 US elections.Who is he and what are his ideas on climate and rights?

• Joe Biden has announced that he is withdrawing from the race for the White House, after the difficulties of recent weeks.
• The president has already given his support to his deputy Kamala Harris, who has already received other significant support.
• His candidacy is not a given and will be voted on at the Democratic Party convention on August 19-22.
• Kamala Harris has little popularity but her battles on climate and rights could convince the electorate.

In 2020 Kamala Harris she had been the first non-white woman to become vice president of the United States.Now she could set a new, important record, becoming the first female (and non-white) president of the country.

After the announcement of the withdrawal from the electoral race of Joe Biden, all eyes are on Kamala Harris.She will most likely be the one to take the reins of the president in the challenge to the Republican Donald Trump, to try to recover that consensus gap that has widened after Biden's recent falls.Several prominent figures of the Democratic Party have already given their endorsement to Kamala Harris, just as the flow of financing of donors to the party, which was partly interrupted due to doubts about Biden's figure.Harris' name will be official only after the convention of the Democratic Party in August, where there could be other candidates.In these weeks, Harris will have to convince the party base with her ideas and then, possibly, the US electorate.

Who is Kamala Harris

Joe Biden he decided to take a step back in the presidential race and give up his candidacy for a possible second term as president at the White House.The announcement comes less than four months after the vote and after a few weeks in which his health was questioned, also due to his terrible performances in some electoral events.

Since Joe Biden's candidacy began to be questioned, the best person to replace him has always been his vice president, Kamala Harris.Born in Oakland, California, in 1954 From a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, Harris earned a law degree fromHoward University.She served as San Francisco's district attorney between 2004 and 2011 and became the first woman and first non-white person to take office. attorney general of California, from 2011 to 2017.

In 2016 it became the second black woman United States Senator, representing California.Then she took to the field for the 2020 presidential election, but she withdrew before the start of the primaries in Iowa and was chosen by the winner Biden as vice president, the first non-white woman in the history of the country.

Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump?

A few hours after his announcement of withdrawal from the race, Biden immediately underlined that he will support the candidacy of Kamala Harris, who he confirmed of wanting to earn and win the nomination.The endorsement immediately came from other leading figures of the Democratic Party, such as the former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.

Also Elizabeth Warren, candidate in the 2020 primaries, has already taken sides in favor of Harris, as did several governors who in recent weeks had been indicated as possible replacements for Joe Biden, in the event of his withdrawal, for the race for the White House.Among these is the Secretary of Transport Pete Buttigieg, the governor of California Gavin Newsom and that of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro.Different financiers who had paused their flow of money towards the Democratic Party's electoral campaign, in contest with Joe Biden's candidacy, they resumed to pay their money, a sign of a new climate of enthusiasm around the figure of Harris (or Biden's withdrawal).

However, Harris' candidacy is not a given.The event will begin on August 19th in Chicago Democratic Party convention, during which the official nomination of the presidential candidate takes place and which should have crowned Joe Biden.The president stepped aside and i 4 thousand delegates elected in January with the primaries will have to vote on who will replace him.There will be Kamala Harris, but there could also be other candidates and other candidates, who are unlikely to succeed given the support that Harris is already gathering.But the last word has not been said, given that the race is on they might show up some governors particularly popular in the party.And that some notable figures, like Barack Obama, they haven't given an endorsement to Kamala Harris yet.

Lights and Shadows by Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris has never convinced the American people in her role as vice president.His has always appeared a shadowy role, too much so, in light of the expectations that part of the country placed in her, the first non-white woman to hold that role.And some of the hopes that had been placed in her, especially on the topic ofimmigration, were disappointed, not necessarily due to its demerits but also due to the complexity of the dossiers on which was called to work.

Harris' problem also lies in rigid and security profile held in her career as a prosecutor, which partly clashes with the civil battles that characterized her once she entered politics.In recent months, however, Harris has seen his rise consent among the progressive American electorate.On the one hand she appeared very determined in her attitude opposition to Donald Trump, compensating for what Biden did not do, on the other hand she became the spokesperson for one of the battles that are marking the American contemporary world and which have a central role in the current electoral campaign, that is, the right to abortion. 

Kamala Harris' ideas on rights…

Right on the topic of civil rights it is likely that Harris will now focus most of her electoral efforts in view of the Democratic Party convention first and then the possible race for the White House.

Harris is a candidate female, non-white, very young for what is the history of the US presidential elections and these are all strong points for the progressive world.Harris has made herself the protagonist of important events social battles throughout his career, of which that for the right to abortion is only the latest.In her political career, Harris has a long history of supporting the LGBT+ rights so much so it has already been written that if she were to be elected she would be “the most gay-friendly president in the history of the United States”.On the social issue, her profile has not transformed her into an icon of the movement Black Lives Matter as one might have thought, also due to her intransigent past as a prosecutor, but her activism against racism, discrimination and social inequalities was definitely noteworthy, with positions taken against the death penalty and other forms of punishment that especially affect the African-American minority, e measures like the Justice in Policing Act on combating police abuse.

…and the climate crisis

The current vice president he has a vision very ambitious also on the topic of fight against climate change and in recent years it has promoted higher taxes on carbon dioxide emissions, asked to put more resources into the budget for the climate, asking for 10 trillion dollars in public and private allocations and, on the sidelines of COP28, a climate fund hoc for three billion dollar developing countries and opposed the fracking in the United States.Among his stances at international level, stands out his March call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the clearest stance taken up to that point by a member of the Biden administration.

If in her run in the 2020 Democratic primary Kamala Harris had taken a moderate role and this poor positioning had not paid off, it is likely that the vice president will now exploit her lack of popularity and knowledge among the American electorate to present herself in a new guise more progressive and radical, with civil, social and climate battles at the center of its agenda.A way to attract the younger ones, the minorities but also the female electorate, which could see the end of nearly two and a half centuries of male presidential representation.