US 2024 election: Kamala Harris represents new democratic party and future

That perfect encapsulation of racial progress embellished some details (Chief Justice John Roberts would likely swear Harris in) and left out some possibilities. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries could become the first Black House speaker, and two Black women could serve in the US Senate simultaneously, something that has never happened. It is a vision of America that millions of voters have had on their minds for decades, working for — and against — its realization. This election is a referendum on that struggle, on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. And to its credit, the Democratic Party has decided to stake its future on those ideals and aspirations.

In the closing days of the campaign, there were two stark versions of America on vivid display. One, last Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden where the echoes of nativism were so strong that one speaker declared that no Nazis had gathered there to rally around Trump as a kind of messiah. They cheered for bottom-of-the-barrel bigotry, images of watermelon-loving Blacks, rock-throwing Muslims, and penny-pinching Jews. Puerto Rico, home to American citizens, was trashed as garbage, and Mexican men were labeled as wanton baby makers. It was Trumpism distilled, shocking, because while America had birthed many of these stereotypes (and even Nazism), there has been an earnest, if imperfect, attempt to banish them. Not so in Trump’s version of America.

Two days later, another version of America was displayed in Washington, DC, on the Ellipse with the White House as a backdrop. A crowd of 75,000 gathered to reclaim that ground from an anti-Democratic mob that laid siege to the Capitol. Children of all races sat on their parent’s shoulders, waving American flags to see a woman who looked like them. They gathered there to hear Harris, the daughter of immigrants, call on Americans to remember the activist patriots — at Selma, Seneca Falls, Stonewall — who marched, protested and pushed to make this country great for everyone. Her campaign is an extension of this long struggle, a refutation of Trump’s distracting carnival of conspiracy theories, lies, sexism, racism, and machismo.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is,” Harris said. “But, America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are. That is not who we are! That is not who we are!”

It was a declaration, hope, a shouted prayer that most Americans will choose to have an expansive vision of the nation.

In electing the first Black president, nominating the first woman candidate from a major party, and now the first Black woman, the Democratic Party is forcing the country to make good on its bedrock principles of equality and progress. It is an insistence on inclusion and representation that is not without risk. In 1971, Patrick Buchanan famously wrote a memo entitled “Dividing the Democrats” that advised using racial progress as a motivating factor for White voters. “There is nothing that can so advance the President’s chances for re-election — not a trip to China, not a four-and-half-percent unemployment — as a realistic black Presidential campaign,” Buchanan wrote.

Trump is so plainly running against social progress, and his rise and his current success should be rightly seen as a backlash to the election of President Barack Obama. If Trump wins, many will point to the Harris campaign and argue that she focused too much on women, didn’t sound tough enough on immigration and crime, and wasn’t specific enough about her plans. They will say she ignored men, particularly working-class men, and should have found time to sit with podcaster Joe Rogan. They will advise the Democratic Party to do some soul-searching, to move to the right, to frankly, not be so Black, so “woke,” and so focused on social progress — some of that second-guessing is already underway. And they will be wrong.

Harris, who will spend election night at her alma mater, Howard University, represents the best of her party, the culmination of everything the party has strived, imperfectly at times, to be. Her historic run has been triggering for millions of Americans nostalgic for the old order and the old ways. And her run has been energizing for millions of Americans who want fairness, equality, and just plain decency. This unwieldy, multiracial, multigenerational coalition persists in this vision of a better America despite the risks and coming backlash. This is good trouble and a necessary battle. Win or lose, the Democratic Party must not give up on this worthy fight.