Kamala Harris is facing a veritable crucible in the forthcoming 2024 general elections, a test marked with challenges tackled and lessons learned from her past campaigns.
Politico reported that Harris, packing experience from her first presidential campaign and a vice-presidential tenure, is all set to contend against former President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential race.
It's been five years now since Harris launched her maiden presidential campaign. During her political journey, she served as vice president for four years and has seen stark evolutions over the years.
Harris was a complete disaster in the 2020 Democrat primary and was one of the least popular candidates ever. She needs to work hard to avoid a disastrous repeat of that performance if she wants any chance of victory in November.
However, the specter of her first campaign's failure continues to wield an impact on her public image.
As she prepares for her tryst with the presidency, she will likely face numerous challenges. These span from tackling immigration and border-related issues to dealing with persistent high inflation, and wooing young voters and people of color while retaining Biden's white working-class support base.
The task doesn’t stop here; handling her public persona and deciding on her running mate also add to her sprawling to-do list.
Harris needs to significantly overhaul her organizational structure which showed cracks in her 2020 campaign.
She will also have to revive her image as a hard-hitting prosecutor, an impression she noticeably deviated from in her previous run.
However, with her vice-presidential experience under the Biden-Harris administration, she has been presented with a unique opportunity to mold her new campaign around freshly created policy frameworks.
Harris faced difficulty in maintaining an unwavering and engaging message in her previous campaign, where she was one among many Democratic candidates vying for attention.
This time, however, she doesn't have to jostle for the limelight and can focus on creating a unique and impactful narrative.
Supporters believe that the Kamala Harris of 2024 is far different – stronger, more experienced, and better prepared than the Kamala Harris of 2019. As stated, "She’s confident, they contend, and battle-tested."
Beyond taking on the alleged fraudulent activities of Trump, Harris has a bigger job at hand. As she mentioned in a recent speech, “As attorney general of California, I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud."
She added, “Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts." Illustrating her stance against fraud, she is simultaneously expected to delineate a hopeful vision for the future.
"Her task will be laying waste to Trump while also articulating a forward-looking vision of a brighter future."
In her latest pursuit, Harris will have to face a multitude of challenges from managing border issues, and appeasing varying voter demographics, to regenerating her stern prosecutor image. Overcoming the ghost of her failed 2020 campaign, she now has the opportunity to leverage policy frameworks from her vice-presidential tenure and offer a clear and cohesive vision.
Preparing to combat her potential adversary, Trump, besides showing the way for a brighter future, Harris stands at the cusp of a formidable journey.
The path may be littered with challenges, but Harris seems poised to take them head-on, with skills honed from past experiences and a confidently charted roadmap ahead.
