1. Kamala Harris
California Senator Kamala Harris has often emerged as the front-runner for many commentators speculating on the 2020 elections. From an identity standpoint, it’s compelling. Harris, who is a woman of color, might be able to draw on the apparently growing wave of liberal voters who look like her.
Again, however, identity politics cannot be entirely everything. Harris, for her part, seems to be making the kind of policy statements and political stands that could position her as a worthy opponent to Trump in the next presidential elections. She’s clashed with the president, said that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen should resign over the family separation policy, and sworn off accepting corporate PAC donations.
Most of those positions are relatively centrist, sure to be pleasing to Democratic leaders and, they might hope, voters who are themselves closer to the center of a political spectrum than in its farther reaches. When addressing criminal justice reform, one of her biggest issues, Harris has taken a “smart on crime” stance, rather than a more dramatic move to upend the system entirely.
In this instance, Harris was big on butting heads with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But, neither was she seemingly willing to speak outright on the deep and complicated intersections of criminal justice, race, economic inequality, and American history.
Where does that put Harris in a 2020 run for the presidency? She’s gaining more and more recognition, not least because she’s willing to publicly disagree with Republicans and, to a limited extent, members of her own party. As a former attorney general for the state of California, she also has a considerable legal record for supporters and opponents alike to scrutinize.
Tell us your top 2020 candidate in the comments.