Why has Kamala Harris downplayed her gender and race on US campaign trail?
Al Jazeera
Experts say that Harris has avoided highlighting ‘identity politics’, as rivals seek to paint her as a ‘DEI hire’.
When Hillary Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 as the first woman to be nominated for the presidency by a major party, she was introduced with a video montage of all the men that had held the office until that point. As she appeared on screen, the montage crashed into shards to the sound of broken glass.
It wasn’t a subtle message. “We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling,” Clinton said.
Eight years later, the second woman to clinch the Democratic Party’s nomination has chosen to go in a different direction. She doesn’t focus on her gender, nor on the fact that, should she win, she would be the second Black president and the first South Asian one.
Clinton’s campaign slogan was “I’m with her”, and she donned white pantsuits in reference to the suffragette movement. But Kamala Harris has made it a point to skirt questions about her gender – and her race – at times appearing visibly annoyed by them.
“Next question, please,” Harris answered during her first televised interview with her running mate Tim Walz when asked to respond to Republican candidate Donald Trump’s comment that she had “turned Black”.
