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Agence France-Presse

For years Kamala Harris faced criticism that she was not up to the job of being a heartbeat away from the presidency. Now, she finds herself feted by Democrats as their best hope to stop Donald Trump’s comeback.
Despite blazing a trail as the first woman, black and South Asian vice-president in US history, the 59-year-old Democrat long struggled with approval ratings as bad or worse than US President Joe Biden’s.
The past 12 months, however, have revealed a transformed Harris.
And with Biden’s endorsement of Harris after stunning the world by dropping his own re-election bid on Sunday, she is suddenly on the cusp of history.
Harris will hope she has done the hard work to earn her full party’s backing in the midst of the crisis.
As the ageing Biden faded over the last year, his “veep” emerged as a force on the campaign trail, pushing for abortion rights and reaching out to core voters, including suburban women and Black men.
With a fondness for the f-bomb and her family nickname of “Momala” going viral, she has also finally started to cut through the noise to voters who previously barely paid attention.
She has also won plaudits in party circles by staying loyal to the 81-year-old president during the last few weeks, even as political vultures circled over his candidacy.
She now is likely to face Trump – a brutal battle against a candidate who defeated Hillary Clinton in her bid become the first female commander in chief in 2016.
The fact that Harris has blamed much of the criticism of her by Republicans on racism and sexism would probably make a win feel even more vindicating for her.
Trump and other Republicans have notably stepped up their attacks on her as Biden’s position weakened and polls showed Harris would fare better against him than Biden.

A child of immigrant parents – her father was from Jamaica and her mother from India – Harris grew up in Oakland, California, in an activist household that saw her attend her first rallies in a stroller.
Her focus on rights and justice saw her build an impressive CV, becoming California’s first black attorney general and the first woman of South Asian heritage elected to the US Senate.
Harris then went up against Biden in the 2020 primaries. In one stinging attack, she criticised him for allegedly opposing the busing of pupils to segregated schools.
“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me,” she said in a barbed attack on her future boss.
But as his running mate, she consolidated the coalition that helped defeat the incumbent Trump in 2020.
Her transition to the White House, however, proved difficult.
I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that
Kamala Harris, US vice-president
Critics said she was underwhelming and gaffe-prone in a job that has been known to flummox many officeholders.
Struggling to carve out a role, she was tasked by Biden with getting to the roots of the illegal migration problem, but fumbled and then got defensive in response to a question during a visit to the Mexican border.
Unusually high staff turnover fed rumours of discontent in the vice presidential office.
And Republicans relentlessly targeted her as being unfit to take over should the worst happen to America’s oldest-ever president, often resorting to stereotypes her supporters branded as sexist and racist.
Harris told the Wall Street Journal in February: “I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that.”

Things began to change as the 2024 race got under way.
The Biden campaign repeatedly deployed her to battleground states to hammer home the party’s message on abortion rights, with Harris becoming the first vice-president to visit an abortion clinic.
Gradually, she began to draw warm and fired-up crowds.
Some of the outreach was, however, cringe-inducing. Earlier this year, she was mocked after she told chat-show host Drew Barrymore her family sometimes called her “Momala”, and Barrymore replied: “We need you to be Momala of the country.”
But voters seemed to be switching on.
A clip of her quoting her mother as often saying: “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” became a meme, with a rising sense among supporters that now could be her time.
If elected, Harris would break one of the highest glass ceilings left for women in the United States – that of occupying the country’s top office.
Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, would also be breaking new ground, moving from being the current “second gentleman” to the country’s first “first gentleman”.


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US Vice-President Kamala Harris campaigns in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

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Harris waves next to her husband Douglas Emhoff, left. Photo: AFP

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US President Joe Biden with Vice-President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May. Photo: EPA-EFE

Donald Trump, wearing a bandage on his ear after he was injured during an assassination attempt several days earlier, speaks onstage during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18. Photo: AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping waits for a meeting with then US president Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 29, 2019. Photo: AFP

Harris, 59, is the first woman, Black and South Asian vice-president in US history. Photo: AFP

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President Joe Biden speaks at the NAACP Convention on July 16 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Photo: TNS

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Photo: AP

Then-President Barack Obama presented then-Vice-President Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the White House in Washington, in 2017. Photo: AP

US Vice-President Kamala Harris and her two grand nieces order ice creams from Tyra Banks at her new shop ‘Smize Dream Ice Cream’ in Washington, DC on July 19. Photo: EPA-EFE

Key senator Joe Manchin urges Biden to step aside as polls show Trump rise

US Senator Joe Manchin. Photo: AFP

US President Joe Biden, left, with Senator Joe Manchin. On Sunday, Manchin urged Biden to drop his re-election bid. Photo: AP 

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Police officers stand guard in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Republican US presidential nominee is holding a campaign rally on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

What’s in a name? For Kamala Harris, maybe an edge with some Asian-American voters

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Harris, right, and Soo at an event in 2004 following Harris’ first win for the office of San Francisco's district attorney. Photo: Julie D. Soo

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 21, 2020, residents of The Villages, Florida, take part in a golf cart parade to celebrate the nomination of Joe Biden for Democratic presidential candidate and Kamala Harris for vice president. - In this Florida retirement town exclusively for residents aged 55 and over, tensions are on the rise as senior citizens square off over who supports President Donald Trump and who does not. A few years ago, The Villages made national headlines for having one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States. These days, the seniors living in the community of 100,000 are more interested in the future of American democracy than in Viagra, and the golf carts are being lined up on both side of the political divide. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP)

A file photo of Stephen H. Soo, right, Julie’s father and the Chinese-American community leader who came up with Harris’ Chinese name, pictured with present-day governor of California, Gavin Newsom. Photo: Julie D. Soo

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during the Democratic National Convention earlier this month. Photo: AP

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Harris, first woman, black and South Asian vice-president in US history, finds herself feted as Democrats’ best hope to stop Trump’s return


Harris, first woman, black and South Asian vice-president in US history, finds herself feted as Democrats’ best hope to stop Trump’s return.
