Kamala Harris walks a line as a ‘change’ candidate, and other takeaways from the DNC

On the biggest stage of her political life Thursday night, Kamala Harris presented herself as a middle-class kid who chose a career as a prosecutor to protect the vulnerable.

Left unsaid was how unlikely it was only a couple months ago for her to be standing as the first woman of color to formally accept a major party’s presidential nomination.

Harris’ speech capped an overwhelmingly optimistic national convention for Democrats, who seized the exhaustive media glare to frame their nominee as the common-sense choice when compared with Donald Trump.

But after riding a honeymoon since President Joe Biden’s departure from the race a month ago, the Harris campaign is preparing for a harder road ahead, as scrutiny of the candidate and her positions is expected to intensify and she meets Trump for a Sept. 10th debate.

Here are four takeaways from the 2024 Democratic National Convention:

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THE SHOTGUN DIVORCE FROM BIDEN IS TRICKY

Michelle Obama lamented a personal lack of hope for the country until recently. Bill Clinton remarked on the “breath of fresh air” Harris has catalyzed. Tim Walz repeatedly pronounced, “We’re not going back.”

Their implicit collective undertone: We were in trouble with Biden.

However intended, the messaging illustrates the uncomfortable task Harris has in separating herself from an unpopular administration she still serves.

Through an array of surrogates and in her own remarks, the 59-year-old Harris has begun signaling she is turning the page from Biden as well, let alone Trump.

In doing so, she is seeking to position Trump as the de facto incumbent, reminding voters of the instability and volatility of his White House tenure four years ago.

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Whether Harris can successfully part with Biden while still tying herself to the administration’s accomplishments will be an important test of her skills as a politician in the weeks ahead.

“She was his partner, she was an integral part of that, just like Joe Biden was an integral part of what Barack Obama did,” said Joe Geller, a South Florida delegate and former state representative. “But she … has other ideas, things that maybe couldn’t have gotten done, didn’t get done … A lot of that is the same as Joe Biden, a lot of that ain’t. Is that separating? I don’t think that’s separating.”

DEMS PITCH A NEW THREAT ON BODY AUTONOMY

Reproductive rights were always going to be a dominant theme of Democrats’ 2024 campaign, given the potency of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to eradicate Roe v. Wade.

This summer, abortion rights activists began whipping up a new line of attack that’s an extension of their argument on body autonomy: The GOP is a threat to in vitro fertilization, which millions of women depend on to get pregnant.

There was Republican blockage of a Senate bill to protect IVF, which Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, supported. There was an Alabama court ruling that called embryos unborn children, opening up fertility clinics to potential legal challenges.

For Democratic strategists and speechwriters, the issue was a no-brainer to amplify.

On the convention stage, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis held up the Project 2025 manifesto – a conservative policy wishlist – and cited the page number that “threatens access to IVF.”

It was a refrain convention watchers heard all week, mostly from women offering personal testimony about how they struggled to get pregnant.

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With infertility affecting 1 in 8 couples, Democrats clearly see the issue as a salient way to portray the Republican ticket as extreme — even though Trump has said he strongly supports “the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby.”

Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist, called the Democratic attack “shamelessly, insultingly false.”

THE PROTESTS WERE NOTHING LIKE 1968

The convention held 56 years ago here in Chicago is remembered for pandemonium in the streets, police clubbing journalists with nightsticks and demonstrators hurling rocks at cops – all as the daily death toll of American soldiers in Vietnam continued to mount.

The protest of a war in Gaza with no U.S. troops on the ground spurred a notable number of activists on the streets. But the promise of 30,000 to 40,000 pro-Palestinian participants for a rally and march on the convention never materialized.

About two dozen demonstrators formed a human chain and paced through the main floor of the arena on Thursday night chanting “ceasefire now.”

Smaller groups of agitators heckled delegates as they entered and exited the convention center, ostensibly more interested in displaying their contempt than winning converts.

RL Miller, a progressive climate activist and delegate from California, encountered some protestors but appreciated their frustration, even if she didn’t see the effectiveness of their tactics.

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“There are people on the pro-Palestinian side who want the party to acknowledge their pain. And then there are anarchist types who would never vote for a Democrat anyway. I assume they’re having problems figuring out which is which,” said Miller.

While a Florida delegate successfully unfurled a banner during Biden’s speech demanding an arms embargo to Israel, the movement of uncommitted delegates upset with the Biden administration’s position on the war in Gaza was not able to secure a Palestinian speaker at the convention.

But with students returning to college campuses and a ceasefire deal on ice, Gaza will continue to follow Harris on the trail.

Miller thinks activists can make headway if they present as reasonable in private, rather than theatrical in public.

“For people willing to play the inside game, things do shift,” said Miller. “If they’re willing to play the longer game and talk to the Harris campaign … they might be OK in the long run.”

THE NEXTGEN DEMS MAY BE STUCK UNTIL 2032

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — each is hailed as a Democrat who could be president one day, and is likely to want to run.

But even as they delivered well-received speeches, the trappings around them pointed to a pesky wrinkle in their personal ambitions.

If Harris is elected in November, she will almost surely seek a second term in 2028, leaving most rising Democrats boxed out of Oval Office action until at least 2032.

And there’s always a possibility of a Walz for White House run at that point.

John Nance Garner once declared to President Franklin Roosevelt that the “vice presidency isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit,” but Harris is a case study in its utility.

The problem for the up-and-comers is that if Harris wins, it forces them to stay relevant and in the public conversation for a longer period of time ahead of a presidential run.

If Shapiro and Moore win second terms, they would expire in 2030. But that means they’d still be former officeholders during their first and best shot at the presidency.