Virtually overnight, she was transformed from a faint, not very well-liked figure into the blessing from heaven that will ensure that the Democrats can wrench victory from the hands of the Republican contender former president Donald Trump in November. She had barely announced her decision to run for office when money started flooding into her electoral war chest. At last count, her campaign has amassed a whopping $82 million. How did this happen?

Kamala Harris’ presidential bid came at a time when the Democratic Party was in a state of utter despair over its prospects in November. Biden’s popularity ratings were plummeting further and further in proportion to the increasing frequency of his gaffes and lapses during speeches and public meetings. Only recently in a NATO conference he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as President Putin! So, having stared into the dark tunnel of almost certain failure, when Biden stepped aside, the Democrats caught a glimpse of light, and they embraced it with all their might. The vice president, who until that point had been faring only slightly better than Biden in the polls, became the lifeline, not just for the Democratic Party but for all voters alarmed by the spectre of a Trump return to the White House.

Kamala Harris has thus won an outpouring of support she could never have dreamed of had she decided to throw her hat into the ring at the start of the nomination. Also in her favour, as she is fully aware, is that she represents the alternative to Trump’s disastrous policies—and to Biden’s policies as well, which is why she has begun to distance herself from some policies including those concerning the war on Gaza. Since announcing her candidacy, she has shown a greater awareness of the humanitarian tragedy being visited on the people in Gaza and she appears more adamant on the need to end the war. Add to this her pointed absence from the capital during Netanyahu’s reception in Congress even though, as vice president, she should have presided over the session.

Could it be that we are seeing a true alternative to Trump and to Biden form before our eyes?

* A version of this article appears in print in the 8 August, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly