CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — During a WBBM Election Central panel this week, political writers weighed in on how Vice President Kamala Harris’ first weeks on the campaign trail have shifted the momentum of the race for the White House.
Laura Washington, a political analyst for Channel 7 in Chicago, said Harris has turned around what had been despair within Democratic circles.
“It shifted when she got into the race, because I think people had already given up the ghost for the Democratic party to win the White House, much less Congress in November,” Washington said.
Political columnist Shia Kapos said the ascendancy of Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket has shifted the conversation around age, with former President Donald Trump now the oldest candidate in the race.
Chicago Tribune reporter Gregory Pratt cited what may be a prophetic comment from a Republican source.
“One of the interesting comments that — former Republican challenger to Trump — Nikki Haley made was that the first party to drop their near-octogenarian from the ticket was going to be the party that wins, and I think that is an energy that you sort of see,” he said. “Obviously, the election isn’t over. There’s a lot that can happen.”
Although Democratic despair seems to have faded, Block Club Chicago’s Quinn Meyers said momentum can slow, too.
“This is still truly a toss-up race,” he said. “I think there is all of this excitement, especially in liberal circles, especially from all the media coverage, but Trump could very well still be elected. Maybe things after the convention next week, though maybe they won’t. Maybe the Kamala wave will continue.”
Panelist Alex Nitkin, with the Better Government Association’s Illinois Answers Project, sounded a cautionary note about Democratic momentum.
“If anything, it makes me a little concerned that there will not be very much incentive for the Harris campaign to give interviews or to come out with policy,” he said. “It's sort of like, why should we change anything? Why should we get in the way of it?”
Washington said Harris will need to do policy eventually. She noted the Trump campaign will likely hit the Harris campaign hard and will “keep hitting them until they do it.”
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