The importance of Kamala Harris
munities, skills which should help her broaden her appeal at the national level.
While race drives voter choices, gender does not have a similar hold on voter behaviour. In 2016, for example, White women voted for Donald Trump (47%) over Hillary Clinton (45%) by a small margin; a startling outcome given Clinton was the first female candidate, who also happened to be white, and Trump’s blatant misogyny.
Harris is smart, competent, and walks into the nomination with the necessary experience. These attributes do not protect her from the conscious and unconscious biases against female candidates in the electorate and the media. The prejudice is only harsher against women of colour. President Trump has already rolled out the longstanding trope of the angry Black woman against the senator, calling her nasty, mad, vicious and mean.
Angered by Trump’s insults and the stories emerging from the Me Too movement, women have been mobilising since 2016. Biden and the Democratic Party are betting on this historic moment in which women and people of colour are energised against Trump. Biden already holds a lead of 25 points over Trump among potential women voters and he hopes to further bolster it after picking Harris.
While Harris’ race and gender have received attention, her skin tone has not. Although her complexion may not have explicitly mattered to her nomination, implicit impulses may explain her ascent. Harris identifies as Black and phenotypically appears Black. She places on the lighter side of the skin colour spectrum among Blacks, though. Research on electoral effects of candidate skin tone suggests that the lightness of her skin tone enhances her electoral appeal. Studies find while skin colour does not predict who runs for office among African-americans, it does impact which candidates win elections. Implicit bias against dark skin tone makes it more likely for lighter-skinned candidates to win than their darker-complexioned counterparts.
Indian-americans are a minuscule part of the electorate, few reside in swing states, and like other recent immigrants, their turnout is low. Indian-americans and Indians are rightly proud of Harris. Her election to office in November would mark a substantial achievement for a person with Indian roots. Still, it is important to remember that Harris is not on the ticket for her Indian heritage. There are other parts of her identity, not to mention her competence, that are responsible for her selection.