Interest in the Democratic presidential race intensifies as President Trump’s presidential approval rating sinks. His general presidential approval is now 11 points underwater in a new national survey of registered voters for The New York Times. His performance rating is also net-negative in every issue area, except for crime.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had his moment in the sun during the long hot summer. Now it’s time for former Vice President Kamala Harris (D) to shine in the media spotlight’s autumnal glow as she begins a tour to promote her new book, “107 Days”.
Newsom had the limelight to himself, with Congress out of session much of the time. Harris has the misfortune of competing for time and attention with media coverage on the shutdown of the federal government. This could be a metaphor for the presidential campaign she ran while the focus was on the unpopular incumbent, Joe Biden.
The title of her book refers to the 107 days she spent as the Democratic presidential nominee after Biden announced his decision to quit his reelection bid last year. Haste makes waste. That’s not nearly enough time for a candidate for the nation’s highest office to mount an effective campaign. But Harris didn’t do herself any favors during her brief run. Voters were angry with rampant inflation under the incumbent president, but she refused to distance herself at all from Biden.
When asked during her infamous appearance on “The View,” she said she wouldn’t do things any differently from him. She now has the luxury of time to plan ahead and to plot a new course for her 2028 bid.
But Harris is more intent on settling scores against others than she is scoring points for herself in her book. She criticizes Biden’s failure to consult her on running for reelection; Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) for his ambition, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) for his performance during his vice presidential debate; and Newsom for failing to help her last year. She has little to say about her vision for the race in 2028 or about the need for her party to adapt aggressive progressive policies to cope with a changing world. She does discuss the importance of education, but she must be bolder and braver than that in her next presidential campaign.
The 2016 and 2020 battles for the Democratic nomination were confrontations between pragmatists like Hillary Clinton and Biden against the idealist candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The pressure to end MAGA, as Trump’s performance deteriorates, will intensify the desire to nominate a “safe” pragmatic Democrat who can beat Trumpism and end its authoritarian abuses.
During the glory years of the National Football League’s Oakland Raiders, the team’s motto was “Just Win, Baby.” But a young generation of idealists, and the urgent need to move the ball forward to deal with systematic problems, will create an environment for an idealistic candidate who will reach beyond the horizon and shoot for the stars.
It’s still early enough for Harris to escape from Biden’s shadow and choose her own destiny with brave new stands. The rubber will hit the road in the 2028 Democratic race over the creation of a comprehensive national health care plan to deal with rising medical costs which place an impossible financial burden on hardworking American families. Democratic congressional leaders have chosen medical inflation as their hill in the fight over a government shutdown.
Voter concern about inflationary medical costs and his Medicare For All proposal powered Sanders’s strong challenge to the Democratic establishment in both of his presidential efforts. Health care costs are much more onerous than they were then. This means medical inflation will be an even more compelling issue in 2028. Advocacy of universal health care will provide the rocket fuel for the emergence of an idealist like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in the next contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Unless another Democratic hopeful beats her to it.
There aren’t any simple solutions to the complex problems that challenge our nation and the world. Harris must respond to those rising challenges to be a successful candidate and a trailblazing president.
Brad Bannon is a national Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications Research which polls for Democrats, labor unions and progressive issue groups. He hosts the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.