15 Jul Think of it as Harris Against Vance
If the 2024 presidential election truly will be decided by the so-called “double haters” – those voters who do not want either Biden or Trump – there is a rational basis on which to make their decisions. That approach would be to compare the vice-presidential candidates running alongside the ticket “leaders.”
By this analysis, the race boils down to Kamala Harris (the sitting vice president and a 2020 presidential candidate herself) and J.D. Vance, who Trump this afternoon announced as his running mate.
This focus makes sense for several reasons. The first is that voter opinions on Biden and Trump seem unlikely to change much at this point. Second, there is a high likelihood that whoever is elected vice president will move up to the presidency when either Biden or Trump cannot continue for one of many possible causes.
Vance
To open the Republican convention today, Donald Trump revealed his running mate selection, J.D. Vance. Mr. Vance is a first-term U.S. Senator from Ohio, elected to that body in 2022. He is 39 years old.
Ideologically, Vance may be more Trumpian than Trump. By this, I mean that Vance, a relatively new convert to the MAGA movement, expresses the substance of the former president’s positions more articulately and perhaps more zealously than Mr. Trump himself. Vance is a nationalist and a populist, opposing U.S. aid to Ukraine and expressing appreciation for political strongmen like Hungary’s Viktor Orban.
Three things I especially like about Senator Vance are: (1) the initials by which he is known also represent his highest education degree, a juris doctorate from Yale Law School; (2) he is a writer, having famously authored the bestselling Hillbilly Elegy in 2016; and (3) he served as a United States Marine, including a deployment to Iraq. That makes him the first military veteran on a presidential ticket since John McCain in 2008.
Vance’s background as a lawyer and a writer may be of special interest to me, but I do think his legal education may counteract that of the former president, whose legal background has been more experiential, shall we say. Vance’s articulateness also will balance the ticket. But it is the military service – the Marines no less – that impresses me most. Service, after all, is one of the seven principles upon which Principle Based Politics was founded in 2021.
Over the last two years, I often have asked myself what it would be like to be Donald Trump’s defense attorney. The definition of unfun is my answer, and I already am without hair to pull out. A similar thought has occurred: Who would want to be Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate in the 2024 election? The last guy, Mike Pence, got thrown under the bus to the point that January 6 rioters called for his hanging, and the Trump-adoring internet still considers Pence a “traitor” and a “coward.”
Nevertheless, we now have J.D. Vance on one side of the ticket. He is half the age of the presidential candidates. And he is almost as likely to be President of the United States a few years from now as either of them.
Harris
I wrote the following in a post simply titled Kamala Harris on December 4, 2023:
The main criticism of Ms. Harris is that she is incompetent and unpresidential. Because President Biden assigned her to lead the nation’s efforts at the U.S. southern border, she gets blamed along with her boss for whatever happens or does not happen there. The “unpresidential” rap also may stem from the vice president being deemed to “babble” or “ramble incoherently” when speaking.
To these complaints, we are reminded of Mom’s advice to “consider the source.” Those same critics likely may not approve of Senator [Amy] Klobuchar or Governor [Gavin] Newsom, either, or of any Democrat for that matter.
We also note that other vice presidents had their substantive faultfinders, particularly from members of the opposing political party.
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Ms. Harris, who graduated from the famed Boalt Hall law school of the University of California at Berkeley, has an impressive career resume. Her competence and alleged speaking inability did not prevent her from being elected as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, or U.S. Senator.
Since I wrote that, Vice President Harris has emerged as the Biden Administration’s lead messenger on abortion and other issues like climate change, guns, and voting rights. Her backers say these roles have brought out the best in her, as she has visited college campuses and spoken to other young and female audiences. At age 59, her relative youth, vigor, advocacy skills, and perceived electability also have led many Democrats to prefer her to Joe Biden atop the party’s ticket.
As always, it will be up to we the people to continue to educate ourselves about all aspects of both tickets and then decide in November which team will lead our great country.
Written by Quentin R. Wittrock, founder of Principle Based Politics.
Look for his posts each week, as this blog will explore and promote the idea of principle in politics, both as to individual elected leaders and our federal government as an institution.
Principle Based Politics does not endorse or support any particular political candidate or party.
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