As Vice President Kamala Harris emerges as the likely Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden announced he was suspending his presidential campaign, she brings a unique portfolio to the top of the ticket, which could spell trouble or success for Democrats. 

Here are three pros and three cons Democrats have for Harris being at the top of their ticket.

Republicans’ attacks on 81-year-old Biden’s age have essentially disappeared as Harris is far younger than former President Donald Trump. Harris, 59, is almost 20 years younger than Trump, 78, and Democrats are hoping Harris’s youthfulness will bring young voters to the polls. 

Before Biden dropped out, many voters were unhappy with both Biden and Trump being the major nominees, with a January poll showing 67% of voters saying they were tired of seeing the same candidates in presidential elections and wanted someone new.

Far before the debate, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 74% of people thought Biden was too old to serve another term as president and 50% thought Trump was too old to be president.

The Harris campaign has already begun attacking Trump’s age, posting a video from former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who said on the campaign trail that if Trump were the Republican nominee, Harris would be the next president.

Democrats believe Harris’s resume as a prosecutor, San Francisco district attorney, and California attorney general will bode well on the backdrop of Trump’s criminal conviction on 34 felonies. While Trump and Republicans have tried to paint themselves as the party of law, Trump has repeatedly attacked the Justice Department and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 

“There is a clear discernment between Kamala Harris and what she represents and her background and someone who has been convicted of 34 felonies and still has multiple indictments he has to go through,” Bakari Sellers, a former South Carolina state representative, and longtime Harris supporter, told the Washington Post.

In one of her campaign ads from her 2020 presidential run, long before Trump’s New York conviction, Harris depicted herself as the antithesis of Trump.

“She prosecuted sex predators. He is one. She shut down for-profit colleges that swindled Americans. He was a for-profit college — literally,” the narrator of the 2019 campaign video said.

If elected to the Oval Office, Harris would make history as the first black woman to be president and the first woman of any background.

In the 24 hours after Biden dropped out of the race, Harris has invigorated key coalitions within the Democratic Party. On a phone call with the network Win with Black Women, more than 44,000 black women joined, forcing the host to increase capacity.

Two-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who was crucial to Biden’s 2020 win in Georgia for organizing black voters, vouched for Harris.

“I’ve known Vice President Kamala Harris for a long time. She’s a tenacious fighter, a champion for our rights & defender of our democracy. United, she will lead us as we defeat Donald Trump this November,” Abrams wrote on X. “I am proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as our Democratic nominee. Let’s go!”

While many Democrats have hailed Biden for his decision to step aside and remarked highly about his political tenure, Republicans have been highly critical of the majority of Biden’s policies.

“Joe Biden has been the worst President in my lifetime, and Kamala Harris has been right there with him every step of the way,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Trump’s vice presidential pick, said in a statement Sunday.

Harris has been painted as Biden’s so-called “border czar,” and many Republicans are unhappy with her work on the border and immigration. In February, 57% of Republicans said their No. 1 concern going into November was the border.

She still may be able to avoid this criticism, as the border is not the responsibility of the vice president but of Cabinet secretaries, such as Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security.

In addition to trying to pin many of Biden’s policies on her, Republicans have already begun questioning Harris for her role in Biden’s perceived mental decline. Republicans believe Harris was part of a Democratic scheme to cover up the president’s health. 

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said on Fox News earlier this month that Harris should be subpoenaed and possibly could be impeached for “lying to the American people” about Biden’s mental state and not invoking the 25th Amendment. 

“No one has been more central to the cover-up than Kamala Harris,” the Republican National Committee said in an email earlier in July before Harris became a presidential candidate.

As Democrats paint Trump as a threat to democracy, some on the Right are questioning Democrats supporting Harris as the new nominee despite not having led tickets in the presidential primaries.

“Joe Biden succumbed to a coup by Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Hollywood donors, ignoring millions of Democratic primary votes,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote.

Harris, however, was on the ticket with Biden when the votes were cast.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The process ahead of next month’s Democratic National Convention is fluid. Many state delegates who were bound to Biden have pledged their support for Harris, and she has the support of many elected Democrats. 

When Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, she said her “intention is to earn and win this nomination.”