EDIT: On the occasion of the choice by Joe Biden of Senator Kamala Harris as vice-president, we offer you for (re) reading this portrait of the senator from California while she was in the middle of the Democratic primary and she was battling against Joe Biden.
She won a battle, but can she win the war? While she put the favorite Joe Biden in great difficulty during the first debate of the Democratic primary on Thursday, Kamala Harris jumped in the polls. The California senator moved from 5th to 2nd position, climbing from 8% to 17% of voting intentions, overtaking Bernie Sanders (14%) and Elizabeth Warren (15%), according to a study published by CNN on Monday. At the same time, Joe Biden sees his lead melt from 32%, at the end of May, to 22%. The race is on.
A daughter of immigrants
“Being the only black woman on stage, I'd like to talk about this racial issue. It was this moment that Kamala Harris took to reproach Joe Biden for his courteous relationship with two segregationist senators in the 1970s. In the process, the American alt-right attacked its origins, with a racist undertone already observed by the "birthers", who maintained that Obama was not born in the United States. “Kamala Harris is not black American. She's half Indian and half Jamaican ”was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr, with the comment“ Really ?? ”
This #longread on @KamalaHarris
from @sfchronicle DC reporter @TalKopan sheds new light on the junior senator from California, her prosecutorial past and her upbringing as the daughter of immigrants.
It's worth your time.https: //t.co/CkOn1g2INS pic.twitter.com/0pWADB6Ls1
Harris was born in Oakland, California, in 1964, to immigrant parents - her mother is Indian and her father Jamaican - mobilized in the struggle for civil rights. During the debate, she recounted how she took the daily bus to a predominantly white school, known as "busing," an initiative in favor of the desegregation of American schools to which Joe Biden spoke. opposite in the 1970s.
His past as a prosecutor, an asset and a potential risk
Facing Joe Biden, but also during hearings in the Senate to confirm Jeff Session and Judge Kavanaugh, Harris has shown that she knows better than anyone how to press where it hurts. This talent, she sharpened it during more than twenty years as a prosecutor: first of the county of Alameda, then of San Francisco, and finally of the State of California.
In the primary, she presents herself as the candidate best placed to "put on trial" the mandate of Donald Trump. But his critics on the left are rallying around the hashtag #KamalaHarrisIsACop (Kamala Harris is a cop). She made a career out of being "tough on crime". Under his supervision, the conviction rate in San Francisco rose from 52 to 67%. Lara Bazelon, a former director of the Project for the Innocent at Loyola Law University, attacked her in an editorial last January: “Kamala Harris was not a progressive prosecutor. When many voices called for reform of the justice and prison system, she opposed it or remained silent. "
The race is long
Harris inflicted "significant damage" on Joe Biden, believes Chris Edelson, professor of political science at the University of Washington. The former vice-president is indeed very popular in the African-American community, which plays a major role in the Democratic primaries, especially in the South. If Kamala Harris scores well there and wins at home in California, she could find herself in a very favorable position.
We are not there yet. The primary is a marathon. The first ballot will only take place in seven months, in Iowa, the candidates will tear each other apart during 11 more televised debates and, each time, the polls will fluctuate. Kamala Harris will now have to learn how to campaign in the spotlight and defend a past scrutinized. Like Joe Biden.
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VIDEO. Democratic primary: "That little girl was me" ... Kamala Harris puts Joe Biden K.-O. during the debate
- Joe biden
- US presidential election
- Donald trump
- Democratic primary