The start of Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign is raising questions about how long her political honeymoon might last.
Republicans have for days said that Harris’s performance in the days since President Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed her is more of a shooting star than anything sustainable, and with three months until November, they hope she follows the laws of political gravity. and fall back to the earth.
But Democrats are optimistic about the sustainability of Harris’ first week success and say the idea of a short-lived honeymoon is foolish.
“There is no limit to a honeymoon. She is obviously right now the right person to unify the Democratic Party, and when you unify the Democratic Party, that creates a lot of wind in your sails,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.). “She has a lot of momentum and I think that will continue for a long time.”
“You can’t fake that. This is real,” Hickenlooper continued, pointing to polls showing voters were frustrated with Trump and Biden’s choices. “Well, now they’re excited to have someone who is younger and energetic and has that drive and enthusiasm that makes everyone feel better about their day.”
Harris last week saw record fundraising, an influx of endorsements from Democrats and support from enough delegates to secure the nomination.
On Tuesday night, the vice president’s campaign said it had raised $126 million since her candidacy became official on Sunday afternoon, with Democrats maintaining that fundraising capacity can continue.
Democrats have also seen a huge increase in support from young voters since Harris launched her candidacy. According to a Axios/Generation Lab ResearchHarris leads the group by 20 percentage points, while the president only leads Trump by a 6-point margin.
“I don’t think she’s peaked yet,” Senate Minority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told The Hill.
But there are some parts of his initial shock-and-awe campaign that cannot be repeated, including the high-level support of Senate and House Democrats, along with most of the high-powered power brokers in the party, such as former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
And, without a doubt, the way in which the torch was passed to him was a historic political earthquake. Biden stepped aside under heavy pressure from his fellow Democrats and endorsed Harris, creating a level of enthusiasm that some say might not have existed if Biden had never tried to run for re-election and Democrats had a typical primary process.
Harris has a few smaller arrows in her quiver to maintain momentum, including the Democratic National Convention and the selection of a vice presidential candidate — although some Democrats believe the impact will be limited.
“It’s a Harris thing,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “I think there are a lot of potential vice presidential candidates, but we are seeing the enthusiasm now in the absence of a vice presidential pick.”
The Democratic National Committee expects Harris, if no one challenges her, to officially secure the nomination on Aug. 1, pick a running mate before Aug. 7 and head to the convention on Aug. 19 — setting itself up for a lively next month. for Democrats. .
Although Harris is off to an impressive start, Trump still leads in most polls, including in swing states, although Harris has filled the gap created largely by Biden’s debate performance.
Republicans think that once they get the message across on what they see as the vice president’s problematic positions, including on borders, energy and policing, she will return to earth.
“I think there’s a euphoria that it’s not Biden,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R), who is running for governor of Indiana in November. “I think once you start to see where she’s coming from in politics, she could do worse than Biden.”
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville warned that enthusiasm for Harris must “be tempered with realism,” reminding Democrats that there is still a difficult campaign to run. Carville too warned against “this kind of giddy euphoria” among Democrats, adding that “it’s not going to be very useful for much longer” against Republicans this cycle.
A poll from Emerson College Polling and The Hill on Thursday found that Trump narrowly led Harris in key battleground states but by margins that surpass Biden’s polls in those states against Trump. A set of national polls compiled by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ shows Trump leading Harris by about 48% to 46%, showing that Harris still has ground to make up.
Anita McBride, former first lady Laura Bush’s former chief of staff, said she is not surprised by Harris’ momentum because Democrats have had time to recover after losing three valuable weeks of intraparty fighting.
But she noticed how quickly things change in politics.
“Things can change in the blink of an eye, and something can happen that changes a campaign, can change the focus of the campaign, can change the coverage of the campaign. Clearly, we saw that in Butler, Pennsylvania,” she said, referring to the assassination attempt on Trump.
“For sure, this is a honeymoon period now. People become stronger and more confident because they are united. There will be no fights in that convention hall,” she said, “but anything can happen. It’s just that, in politics, every day is an eternity,” she added.
There is also the question of how the debates – if they happen – will impact the political landscape. The debate between Biden and Trump late last month shook up the 2024 race because the president’s poor performance led to calls for him to step aside.
The Trump campaign has not yet participated in any debates, but Harris sounded confident on Thursday.
“I will tell you that I am ready to debate Donald Trump. I agreed to the debate previously agreed for September 10th. He agreed to it previously,” she told reporters. “Now here he is backing down, and I’m ready, and I think voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage, and so I’m ready to go.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
