The Fear Of a Second Black President, Especially If It's A Woman

The Multi-Year War Against Kamala Harris

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 | Wiki Commons

Let's look back to when Kamala Harris was a US Senator and sat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She established a well-earned reputation as being formidable. Nobody wanted to face Kamala's fierce questioning; the witnesses left flustered, and babbling included Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions, John Kelly, and Brett Kavanaugh. Harris, the former Attorney General from the State of California, proved herself intelligent, prepared, and a rising star in the Democratic Party. In the judgment of some, she was rising a bit too fast.

Kamala Harris had a meteoric rise in politics. She served two terms as a District Attorney in San Francisco before being elected the Attorney General for California. In 2017 Kamala became a US Senator after winning the 2016 election; she was endorsed by President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden. Once a Senator, though she was the junior member of those serving on the Judiciary Committee, Harris became the most visible presence; her questioning was what people came to see.

Kamala threw her hat into the ring for President in 2019, with Barack Obama completing his second term, opening the field for Democratic Candidates. Harris has served just one term as Senator, but there was a precedent in Barack Obama it could be done. A crowd of over 20,000 people watched as she announced her bid. She would be competing against several candidates in the Democratic primaries, including the current Vice-President Joe Biden.

Her announcement was generally well received by Democrats though many Republicans despised her. There was some grumbling about her not waiting her turn. Eleven days later, Cory Booker entered the race, making him the second Black candidate besides Harris. Neither Harris nor Booker did exceedingly well in the polling, but their votes were seen as taking away from Joe Biden, which aided candidates Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. It was then that Congressman James Clyburn made the…