Tangle - Part 2: My take on Kamala Harris.

I’m Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle: an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day — then “my take.”

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Earlier today, we released Part 1 of our deep dive on Vice President Kamala Harris. In that edition, we covered her upbringing, her political career, and her stances on major policy issues. You can read it here. 

This is Part 2. In it, we’ll cover the arguments from Harris’s supporters, the arguments from her detractors, and then I’ll share “my take” on her five biggest strengths and weaknesses. 

What her supporters say.

Many of Harris’s supporters have considered her the future of the Democratic Party since she was elected to the Senate. Those voices reached a fever pitch in 2019, when she announced her candidacy for president. David Leonhardt at The New York Times called her a “front-runner” in the crowded Democratic field, writing, “She has a fascinating personal story, and she has handled the national spotlight well in her first two years in the Senate.” The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin agreed, suggesting that Harris “might be the most engaging and dynamic” of the Democratic candidates and likened her to former President Barack Obama. Nate Silver, writing for FiveThirtyEight, said Harris had “more upside” than older party figures like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.