Conservative warns Republicans: Don't underestimate Kamala Harris

When then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) dropped out of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, some of her supporters were surprised that the campaign underperformed and never really caught fire — as Harris had a long resumé that included not only U.S. senator, but also, California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney.

Nonetheless, now-President Joe Biden — having witnessed first-hand how tough and forceful a debater Harris can be — chose her as his running mate. Now, Vice President Harris is the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, taking on GOP rival Donald Trump. And many national and battleground state polls are showing a very close race.

In an article published by the conservative National Review on October 21, journalist/author Jim Geraghty has a warning for others on the right: Don't underestimate Kamala Harris.

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Geraghty isn't endorsing Harris in his in-depth piece. In fact, the conservative writer is quite critical of the vice president from a policy standpoint. But Geraghty argues that politically, Harris has had a lot more victories than disappointments.

MAGA Republicans' "caricature of Kamala Harris as a bumbling dunce," according to Geraghty, "makes it easy to underestimate her, particularly in the closing weeks of an exceptionally close and high-stakes presidential campaign." And he warns the GOP that "Harris' past is littered with older and more experienced men who saw her as easy pickings and came up short on Election Day."

"But there's this nagging complication — if Kamala Harris is as stupid as her critics claim, why does she have the Democratic presidential nomination and a roughly 50–50 shot of being the first female president in U.S. history?" Geraghty argues. "Do you know how many ruthlessly ambitious Democratic men and women have desperately yearned to get where she is? How many smart, tough, shrewd, often underhanded and cold-blooded pols have tried to claw their way up the greasy pole and fallen short? And somehow this supposed dunce managed to do it?"

Geraghty continues, "The record indicates that whatever Harris' results are on an IQ test or other measure of intellect, she is particularly talented by another measuring stick, one that may be even more important in politics: She is exceptionally skilled at getting other people emotionally invested in her success."

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The conservative journalist/author goes on to stress that "because she dropped out of the 2020 Democratic primary before any votes were cast," Harris has "never actually lost a race in her life."

"Since becoming the Democratic nominee," Geraghty observes, "she has raised more than $1 billion in less than three months. The Harris campaign has 2500 staff members located in 353 offices…… At every key moment in her career until her presidential campaign, Harris has had bigger, wealthier, more powerful, and more influential names sizing her up and concluding she was the one. And she's taken that and her politicking skills to two terms as city district attorney, two terms as state attorney general, one term as senator, and one term as vice president."

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Jim Geraghty's full National Review article is available at this link.