•Harris and Trump
Arguably, the United States of America is having one of its keenest presidential elections ever. Ahead of the conclusion of voting, today, former President Donald Trump of the Republican Party, and Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party, as of the time of filing this report, were locked in a very tight race.
So far, no fewer than 75 million people have voted in person early or by mail, according to the NBC tracker of the poll, reports Vanguard.
Yesterday, the final day before the presidential election, and the last opportunity for the candidates to deliver their pitch to voters, Trump and Harris were running neck-and-neck, both nationally and in most swing states, causing anxiety among supporters of both camps.
Currently, it is difficult to tell if Trump, the 45th president will emerge as the 47th leader or Harris, the 49th Vice-President, will become the 47th president.
Although Harris, the third US female presidential candidate, announced her campaign on July 21, 2024, exactly 104 days ago, compared to her opponent, who had the opportunity of starting a year before the election, she has so far ran a good campaign that has kept the race on live wire.
Harris, the 11th female US VP, is already shattering records, and has Trump to contend with in her meteoric political rise. If she wins today’s election, four years after becoming VP in 2020, she will be the first US female president.
Harris has served as the US’ first woman, first Black, and first South Asian vice president since January 2021. She represented California in the US Senate from January 2017 to January 2021, where she became the first South Asian woman and only the second Black woman to serve in the Senate. Harris was District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. She was California’s Attorney-General from 2011 to 2017, serving as the first Black woman to be elected statewide in California. Harris was an aspirant for president in the 2020 Democratic primary; she left the race before the first primary contest. In 2024, she launched her candidacy in July 2024 when President and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed her for the Democratic nomination. She earned the requisite delegate votes necessary to secure the Democratic nomination on August 6, 2024.
10 female VPs before Harris
Other female VPs before her were Marrelta Show (1884), Equal Rights Party; Lena Springs (1924), Democratic Party; Charlotta Spears Boss (1952), Progressive Party; Frances Farenthold (1972), Democratic Party; Toni Nathan (1972), Republican Party; LaDonna Harris (1980), Citizens Party; Geraldene Ame Ferraro (1984), Emma Wong Mar (1984), Peace and Freedom Party; Winona LaDuke (1996, 2000), Green Party; and Sarah Palin (2008), Republican Party.
Will Harris succeed where Hillary Clinton, Woodhull, others failed?
Clearly, the US has one of her brightest chances of producing female president Harris after Senator Hillary Clinton’s controversial miss in 2016.
Victoria Claflin Woodhull (1872) was the first woman to run for United States President. She ran as the candidate of the Equal Rights Party.
Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood (1884 and 1888) became the second female to run for President also on the banner of the minority Equal Rights Party.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be a major party’s nominee for president. Despite winning the popular vote by almost three million votes, Clinton lost the Electoral College and conceded the general election on November 9, 2016, to Trump.
Eight years later, Harris has become the second woman to be a major party’s candidate and needs at least 270 of the 538 electoral college votes to succeed President Joe Biden.
Will she get the needed votes? Having failed to get re-elected in 2020, will Trump get it today?
Already, the atmosphere is tense and volatile and Trump’s camp is alleging that the 2024 early voting was being rigged. On January 6, 2021, there was a violent mob attack on Capitol Hill in Trump’s rejection of the 2020 election results. Will the trend recur in this election? Only time will tell.
Issues before American voters
The voters have a tough choice to make over who would protect their interests best. The 2024 election is coming up two months after the 23rd anniversary of the world-changing 11 September, 2001 Al-Qaeda bombing of critical symbols of American power.
Now, the Israeli-Hamas war is currently raging with many around the world accusing the United States of strengthening the hands of Israel as it commits what some perceive as genocide and war crimes.
As it is, Israel is a campaign issue in the US election, with Trump saying at the presidential debate he had with Harris on September 10, 2024: “She hates Israel. If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now.”
There is also the raging Russia-Ukraine war with America and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, supporting Ukraine; while China, Iran and North Korea, among others, are backing Russia.
The poll is also holding at a time Africa, especially Francophone Africa, is becoming increasingly hostile to America, and the BRICS group of countries is waxing strong as an attractive alternative inter-governmental development platform.
In a counter, Harris has accused Trump of dividing America and demonising immigrants on account of his comments during the presidential debate.
Trump said in the debate: “We have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums. And they’re coming in and they’re taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans and Hispanics and also unions. You see what’s happening with towns throughout the United States. You look at Springfield, Ohio. You look at Aurora in Colorado. They are taking over the towns. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently. These are the people that she and Biden let into our country. And they’re destroying our country. They’re dangerous. They’re at the highest level of criminality. And we have to get them out. We have to get them out fast.”
Indeed, some African-Americans are rooting for Harris on account of the above stance of Trump.
Responding to Trump, Harris said the country “would never survive another Trump term. And when we listen to this kind of rhetoric, when the issues that affect the American people are not being addressed, I think the choice is clear in this election.”
