Can Harris win? Political pundits quickly weigh in

What now? Last week, the political merry-go-round was upended when an assassination attempt was made on former chief executive and current GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
A little over a week later, the incumbent President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal after mounting pressure from the Democratic faithful to drop out in order to make room for another, more electable candidate. In the interim, the Republican National Convention came and went, with Trump as expected, milking it for all its worth, accepted the nomination and proclaiming his rebirth as the uniter in chief committed to “…bring back the American Dream.”
Just before the latest bombshell in the escalating melodrama of the Presidential campaign, a group of venerated members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (AKA), the intercollegiate African American sorority, engaged in their sisterly rituals of celebrating birthdays, planning fundraisers, and charitable functions to benefit the community. In between exchanges over the appropriateness of gift ideas, the conversation turned to the current, ubiquitous subject of discussion regardless of political allegiance or conviction: Donald Trump.
The following day, the plot thickened because his primary rival, incumbent President Joseph R. Biden bowed under partisan pressure to drop out of the race just four months prior to the election for the reins of the nation, leaving the pathway open for a replacement, most notably current Vice President Kamala Devi Harris.
Aside from her media and political prominence, Harris is a sister in good standing of the AKA Apple Green and Salmon Pink. Moreover, she gets points for issues dear to the progressive cause. She may be the biggest obstacle to the far-right’s push to ban a woman’s right to choose, a quest gaining momentum since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade two years ago.
On the subject of affirmative action, she has a personal connection, since she has regularly been targeted as a poster child for D.E.I. (diversity, equity and inclusion) opponents. Harris has been an advocate for affordable housing since her days in California politics, a commitment continued into her Vice Presidency as she demonstrated in May as she orchestrated some $5.5 billion in homeless funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Her marriage, in this case of a Jamaican American woman to Second Gentleman Douglas C. Emhoff, a Jewish American, endears her to the liberal faithful among the Hollywood elite, a powerful faction eager to support the candidacy of a Bay Area homegirl. This in turn is two edged sword, since this union of diversity may stoke the enmity of White Supremacists, whose core values hold that pure blooded Caucasians are about to be overrun by a race of subhuman “mud people” under the direction of their Hebrew masters. Donald Trump has not personally espoused these views, but many do within his core support base of the Alt-Right. A Kamala Harris candidacy may well bring these zealots out from the shadows.
On the same Sunday of Biden’s withdrawal, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), a 2020 election denier, suggested that the GOP might be able to sue the Democrats, and essentially, force them to restore Joseph Biden as their party’s nominee for the November election. Shortly afterwards, Johnson suggested the President resign immediately, reasoning that “…if Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president.”
The improbable may well become a reality with the existence of a US Supreme Court slanted by the right by the Trump faithful.
“He must resign the office immediately. Nov. 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” Johnson continued. Efforts are underway to prevent Harris from accessing tens of millions of dollars Biden accumulated in his war chest before backing out of the contest.
To her credit, Harris collected some $81 million in donations in the day following Biden’s announcement. A Sunday night “Zoom” call initiated by prominent Los Angeles Black women garnered $1.5 million in three hours.
During the coming months, more drama and hi-jinks are sure to follow. Perhaps most intriguingly, the possibility of upcoming debates involving a prosecutor by trade and a convicted felon (with more indictments pending) is deliciously enticing.