If Joe Biden steps apart for the Democratic presidential nomination — nonetheless a really huge if — the favourite to interchange him is Vice President Kamala Harris. In lately leaked post-debate polling from Open Labs, Harris polled higher than Biden in matchups in opposition to Trump.
In 2019, Dana Goodyear wrote in The New Yorker, “As a Black, feminine law-and-order Democrat, Harris creates a sort of cognitive dissonance.” The profile Harris inhabited then could be welcome in an election yr the place dysfunction is on voters’ minds and the Republicans are nominating a convicted felon. However Harris hasn’t inhabited that political profile for years. And since turning into Biden’s vp the traditional knowledge on her has shifted: She’s gone from rising star — many thought her “the subsequent Obama” — to political underachiever.
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So I’ve had a number of questions on Harris. What accounted for the quick fall from grace after she took the vice presidency? What occurred to the smart-on-crime prosecutor we as soon as noticed? What has the White Home accomplished — or not accomplished — to construct her profile? And are critics of Harris honest, or is she underrated now?
I’m joined by Elaina Plott Calabro, a employees author at The Atlantic who traveled with Harris extensively for a major profile final yr. I left this dialog with a really totally different principle of who Harris is, what her politics are and what led to the confusions of her vice presidency.
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This episode of “The Ezra Klein Present” was produced by Elias Isquith. Reality-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with further mixing by Isaac Jones and Aman Sahota. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The present’s manufacturing group additionally contains Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu and Kristin Lin. Authentic music by Isaac Jones. Viewers technique by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The chief producer of New York Instances Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Particular because of Carole Sabouraud.
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