Mediaboss Marketing

When polls suggested that President Donald Trump might lose badly on Election Day, some vulnerable Republican senators started tiptoeing away from him particularly on his handling of the pandemic. He also faced criticism for not clearly denouncing a white supremacist group during the first presidential debate.

Now that Mr. Trump has overperformed expectations in the election results, and still has a shot at winning, party officials are circling the wagons. His grip on the party seems as tight as ever. And even if he loses, he will remain the partys leader, at least through the midterms and likely until theres a clear GOP presidential front-runner for 2024.

As a political agenda, Trumpism is part Reagan Republicanism lower taxes, less government regulation, cultural conservatism plus a pivot toward a hard line on immigration and an America First approach to foreign policy. Its also infused with old-fashioned populism.

And its here to stay.

Says veteran political analyst Stuart Rothenberg: The Trump wing of the Republican Party is the Republican Party, and its big enough now such that it would take a stunning blow to get those people to reassess.

Washington

President Donald Trump may lose reelection, but if the nail-biter contest of 2020 has shown anything, its that Trumpism is here to stay.

As a political agenda divorced from the more controversial aspects of his personality and style, Trumpism is part Reagan Republicanism lower taxes, less government regulation, cultural conservatism plus a pivot toward a hard line on immigration and an America First approach to foreign policy. Its also infused with old-fashioned populism, in its appeal to Americans who feel forgotten by the powerful.

As long as President Trump himself remains in the public eye which he is expected to do, win or lose his outsize persona will ensure that his political brand dominates the Republican Party for the foreseeable future.

But the preeminence of Trumpism within the GOP is not just about one mans ability to garner attention and appeal to a significant portion of the electorate. Its also about the deeper currents of thought that he has tapped into and which long predated his fateful ride down the escalator at Trump Tower in June 2015.

For the past 40 years, our political paradigm has shifted from left versus right to front versus back, says Mo Elleithee, director of the Institute of Politics and Public Service at Georgetown University.

Its about people who feel stuck at the back of the line versus those at the front who they feel are keeping them back, he says.

In Mr. Trumps terms, its about fighting the swamp the Washington establishment, of both parties, that he says are in it for themselves, not hardworking Americans.

In recent memory, a series of outsider presidents has come to Washington from Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, all of whom staked claims to addressing concerns of the little guy.

But nobody can match the sheer disruptiveness of Mr. Trump, both in style and policy. The presidents continuing popularity within the Republican base means that he still holds the party in his thrall, regardless of how GOP leaders feel.

The Trump wing of the Republican Party is the Republican Party, and its big enough now such that it would take a stunning blow to get those people to reassess, says veteran political analyst Stuart Rothenberg.

When polls suggested that Mr. Trump might lose badly on Election Day, some vulnerable Republican senators started tiptoeing away from him particularly on his handling of the pandemic. He also faced criticism for not clearly denouncing a white supremacist group during the first presidential debate.

Now that Mr. Trump has overperformed expectations in the election results, and still has an outside shot at winning, party officials are circling the wagons. His grip on the party seems as tight as ever. And even if he loses, he will remain the partys leader, at least through the midterms and likely until theres a clear GOP presidential front-runner for 2024.

Its also possible Mr. Trump will run again for president himself. At the very least, he is expected to maintain a public presence via Twitter, public appearances, possibly his own media venture which would allow him to keep the embers of a potential political comeback burning bright.

For experienced party hands, Mr. Trump is a wonder to behold. In early 2013, Henry Barbour, Republican National Committee member from Mississippi, co-wrote a report on the future of the GOP. Dubbed the autopsy, it aimed to reimagine a more inclusive party, following presidential nominee Mitt Romneys loss in 2012.

Most memorably, the report embraced comprehensive immigration reform, in an effort to recast the party as more welcoming to minorities. At the time, Mr. Trump lashed out against that recommendation: Does the @RNC have a death wish? he tweeted.

The rest is history. He launched his 2016 campaign by railing against unauthorized Mexican immigrants. Build the wall has been a Trump rallying cry ever since.

Certainly, the presidents tone on immigration is not consistent with what we wrote in the report, Mr. Barbour says in an interview. It is what it is.

But, he notes, the president did better Tuesday than he did four years ago with Latino voters as well as African Americans. And he points to a logic in Mr. Trumps approach.

Thats something we missed in the report, Mr. Barbour says. How do we consistently win working-class voters of all backgrounds?

At heart, the future of Trumpism is very much tied to the legions of Americans he has brought into his orbit, including first-time voters some of whom have sat out many elections but are now invested in Mr. Trump and his goals.

Mr. Trump has won many converts, such as Steven Mosley of Alexandria, Virginia, who works in higher education. Four years ago, he didnt vote for Mr. Trump but on Tuesday, he did.

He is the only Republican in my lifetime that actually said he was going to do something and did it, says Mr. Mosley, who points to judicial appointments, moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and defunding Planned Parenthood.

All political parties are coalitions, as is the Trump electorate effectively the Republican Party, minus the Never Trumpers. Not all Trump voters like his brash style but many do, citing his willingness to fight hard and flout norms.

A lot of his base, they love his behavior, says Dick Wadhams, a veteran GOP strategist in Colorado.

Others are willing to vote for Mr. Trump in spite of his style, citing his traditional Republican approach to taxes and regulation.

For now, GOP strategists say, Mr. Trump is the Republican Party. To some Never Trumpers a slice of the Republican elite that cannot abide the presidents persona or values a Trump loss in the presidential race would mean the end of his party control.

Trumpism is a cult, says Rick Tyler, a former top aide to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. And if Mr. Trump loses the election, the cult goes away.

To University of Denver political scientist Seth Masket, Trumpism represents a loyalty to him rather than to any specific ideology. Its an alternative to conservatism.

Indeed, perhaps Mr. Trumps most significant departure from conservatism is his seeming lack of care about the debt and deficit, even before the pandemic.

Other analysts see a certain logic in Trumpism.

Trumpism itself has a much more anti-globalist ideology than traditional Republicanism, says Brandice Canes-Wrone, a political scientist at Princeton University. Its more generous in terms of social insurance; hes not trying to significantly reform Social Security or Medicare, or even indicating any interest in doing that.

She notes that elements of Trumpism adhere to traditional Republican philosophy, including in its conservative judicial philosophy and its approach to taxes and regulation.

Those areas are consistent, Professor Canes-Wrone says. But the anti-globalism and even the kind of strong preservation of Social Security and Medicare and the willingness to spend a lot during the pandemic, you could say anyone would do that. But with Trump, you dont sense the kind of hesitation you might find with a more traditional Republican.

How Mr. Trump would handle a second term a live possibility at time of writing could go a long way to determining the future of the GOP. One important question: How would he behave, given that he would no longer need to campaign, at least for himself?

Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox.

He could take a look at how his own behavior clouded the success of his administration over these past four years, and make the decision to be different, says Mr. Wadhams. Or he could double down and be even more confrontational than he was the first term.

Staff writer Noah Robertson contributed to this report.

Continued here:
Why Trumpism is here to stay - The Christian Science Monitor

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The long-awaited declaration of a victor in the presidential race finally came on Saturday morning, and Staten Islanders prominent in the boroughs politics are reacting to Joe Bidens projected win.

Congratulations President-elect Biden! said James Clinton, executive director of the Staten Island Democratic Party. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the right leaders to lead all of us through these times. We look forward to a strong future for this country.

Democratic Rep. Max Rose -- who has not yet conceded in his election to Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, pending the count of about 40,000 absentee ballots -- offered his congratulations to Biden and Harris in a Tweet Saturday afternoon.

Now is the time to put aside differences others use to divide us, heal the nation, rebuild the economy and beat this pandemic, he wrote.

That message echoed the sentiment of unity projected by Biden in televised speeches on Thursday and Friday evenings, as the country waited for a winner to be named.

But one of the most boroughs most recognizable Trump supporters, the controversial public artist Scott LoBaido, railed against messaging that he sees as hypocritical.

It is despicable!" LoBaido said. "The same people who did not accept Trump as president and spent four years frivolously, unconstitutionally trying to bring him down, and disrespected him are now the party of Unity?

"Call me a sore-loser or whatever, he continued. I call bull****! I will continue my decades-long mission to preserve America as we know it and keep her from being slaughtered from within!

In contrast, comments from Trumps strongest detractors on Staten Island put into stark relief the divergent viewpoints that made the presidential election so hotly contested.

Illustrating the anti-Trump sentiment held by some Biden voters, activist Yesenia Mata said: No more children in cages, no more families separated, no more attacks on our immigrant communities and time for bold immigration reform."

Mata is the executive director of La Colmena, a job community center in Port Richmond.

Councilman Joseph Borelli, who has been a strong supporter of Trump and was instrumental locally in the presidents 2016 campaign, simply congratulated Biden and wished him luck.

Councilwoman Debi Rose commented on the historic nature of the win.

Todays news is a win for democracy over demagoguery, and a win for women and our struggle to break the glass ceiling of inequity councilwoman Rose said. "This is especially significant for women of color, who will have a mirror image of themselves present in the second highest office in America.

I hope and pray that this nation will come together to defeat this pandemic, rebuild our economy and unite in a spirit of healing and mutual respect.

TRUMPS STATEN ISLAND WIN

Bidens projected win is a bright spot for Staten Island Democrats, who saw some stinging results at the polls on Election Day, with local Republicans riding a wave of support for President Trump.

Republican Michael Tannousis won the vacant East Shore state assembly seat; the Chairman of the Staten Island Democratic Party, Assemblyman Michael Cusick, is currently behind in a nail-biter with his challenger; and, despite Rep. Roses refusal to concede, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis declared victory in their hard-fought battle.

Malliotakis did not respond to an Advance/SILive.com request for comment in time for publication, but Trumps endorsement of her candidacy for Congress was a prominent part of her campaign and she thanked him on Election Night in her victory speech.

She tweeted on Saturday support for the presidents efforts to pursue their options until every legal vote is counted.

Staten Island was the only borough in New York City won by Trump in 2016, and with just the in-person ballots counted so far, almost 9,000 additional Staten Island votes have already been counted for Trump in 2020.

Trumps total vote count in 2016 was 101,437, and at least 110,094 in-person votes cast for him during the 2020 pandemic.

It is unclear how wide Trumps margin on Staten Island will be after the more than 30,000 mail-in ballots from Staten Island voters are counted, but only about 67,000 votes were made in-person for the Biden-Harris ticket.

SOME NEW YORKERS TAKE TO THE STREETS

People celebrate in Times Square, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)AP

In Manhattan, Biden supporters filled Times Square on Saturday afternoon, cheering and celebrating the projection of the former vice presidents victory.

Throngs also cheered on the sidewalk outside Trump Tower, the presidents longtime home, and gathered by the hundreds in public plazas that have served as gathering spots for Black Lives Matter protests.

Kyle Boyd, of Brooklyn, said he heard the commotion and instinctively grabbed the cowbell he had banged during nightly celebrations for health care workers throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

I hadnt quite imagined it, Boyd said over the shouting of revelers as a man hoisted a bottle of champagne nearby. I had no idea when it would come.

In Harlem, chants of Black Lives Matter mixed with cheers, claps, horn-honking among a multiracial crowd on a plaza on the neighborhoods main drag, 125th Street. Some danced to R&B classics and, later, sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, the hymn also known as the Black national anthem.

If Biden does what he says hes going to do, were going to be a great country, Terence Blakes, who goes by the name Born Life, said as he watched. The 53-year-old, who works at a Harlem school, said hed waited two to three hours to vote in his precinct in Brooklyn.

ASSOCIATED PRESS MATERIAL WAS USED IN THIS REPORT

Read the original here:
From the right leaders to despicable: Staten Island reaction to Bidens projected win - SILive.com

Venture capitalists on either side of the Atlantic have weighed in on a nail-biter race for the White House which has yet to determine whether incumbent President Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden will spend the next four years in the Oval Office.

Biden is narrowing the gap with Trump in key states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Business Insider asked tech investors in the US and Europe to share their gut reactions to the news so far.

Matt Clifford, the cofounder and CEO of the startup accelerator Entrepreneur First, told Business Insider he had been predicting a "big and clear" win for Biden.

Speaking from his home in London, Clifford, who has a master's degree in American politics, said the neck-and-neck race was a "disaster" for pollsters.

"I thought they were treated unfairly in 2016, given a Trump win was within the margin of error. But this is unquestionably a disaster," he said.

No matter who ends up taking the presidency, Clifford said US policy toward high-skilled immigrants would be of great interest to the tech sector.

Last month, Trump announced major changes to the H-1B visa program, which allows high-skilled foreign workers to be employed in the US and was considered an asset that allowed American startups to import talent.

The changes introduce new obstacles for visa holders and are being challenged by major US tech firms in court. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella both once held H-1B visas.

Biden has suggested he would ease the visa restrictions, though potentially not all of them.

Clifford also pointed to the emerging "arms race" between the US and China for dominance of artificial intelligence and quantum-computing technologies.

"Whatever happens, I think Europe is going to be a lot wearier of letting the US take the lead on these issues in the West," he said.

Ophelia Brown, a cofounder and general partner at Blossom Capital, said the election served as a reminder for European entrepreneurs to "keep their foot to the pedal."

She said: "Whichever candidate ends up in the White House, tech companies in Europe have a huge opportunity ahead of them, and should keep their attention on dealing with the opportunities and challenges directly in front of them."

Meanwhile Spencer Lake, a partner at Element Ventures, said the tightening polls offered an "unfortunate commentary on the divisiveness that exists in the US." He added: "Hopefully, the naturally strong business acumen of the American people will continue to prevail, regardless of the outcome."

PitchBook data indicates that venture capitalists donated $69.7 million to the 2020 election with about 80% going to Democratic candidates and organizations.

Investors are keen to see more support for the H-1B program from Biden and vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris, but not everything they bring is viewed as a positive.

Logan Allin, a managing partner at Fin Venture Capital, said he believed the Biden administration would be a strong net positive but predicted an increase in corporate taxes, which would "drag on earnings" and the potential for "higher long-term capital gains," affecting innovation in the sector.

Immigration reform and higher corporate taxes could be a net positive for Europe, however, according to Stephen McIntyre, a founding partner at Frontline, a venture-capital fund that specializes in helping US companies set up in Europe.

"Tighter US immigration controls and COVID-induced remote work have blown open the global market for skilled talent," he told Business Insider. "Silicon Valley is losing its monopoly on tech talent, and we expect to see US startups hire more engineers and executives in Europe, which remains the first destination for US tech companies overseas."

For the latest news on the 2020 US election, follow Business Insider's live coverage here.

View post:
US and European tech investors on US election - Business Insider

Announcing his presidential bid in 2015, Donald Trump complained that Mexico was not sending their best Theyre bringing drugs, theyre bringing crime, theyre rapists.

During the second presidential debate last month, Trump said of immigrants, A murderer would come in, a rapist would come in, a very bad person would come in.

Trumps message about immigrants may not have changed since he first ran for office, but he still retains considerable support among Latino voters. In fact, polls indicate that they represent one of the few groups where his support has increased since 2016.

Exit polls four years ago showed that Trump won 28 percent of the Latino vote. Polls of the current race show his support at least matching that level and often reaching into the 30s. Trump is polling especially well among Hispanics in South Florida and South Texas, which could affect the outcome of those tossup states.

The Hispanic vote will be especially vital this year. Thirty-two million Hispanics are eligible to vote this year, according to the Pew Research Center. This is the first time they have surpassed the number of eligible Black voters.

Joe Biden will capture a large majority of the Hispanic vote, but his margin may well trail Hillary Clintons four years ago. Democrats are nervous about the relatively low level so far of Hispanic turnout and support for their candidate, particularly in Miami.

Biden has made several promises aimed at winning Hispanic support. Hes pledged that introducing immigration reform legislation, legal certainty for Dreamers and extending protected immigration status to Venezuelans will all be Day One priorities. Biden also said hell kick off his administration with a task force charged with finding the parents who were separated from 545 migrant children and deported to Central America.

Trumps border policies have sometimes slipped into brutality. Along with the family separation policy, a whistleblower at the Department of Homeland Security contends that immigrant women have been forced to have hysterectomies.

But a survey this summer from Project Juntos found that a majority of Latinos more than white or Black voters were receptive to messages calling for full funding of police and condemning illegal immigration from places overrun with drugs and criminal gangs.

Hispanic support is not as solidly Democratic as among African Americans. Theres long been a significant share of Hispanics who support the GOP. As with other groups of voters, they have found things to like among Trumps policies, even though some may find his rhetoric distasteful.

The administration has given overwhelming attention to Florida and Florida Latinos, said Eduardo Gamarra, a professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University in Miami.

Like Black voters, most Hispanics supported the GOP until the advent of the New Deal during the 1930s. Unlike African Americans, their support of the Democratic Party didnt grow over the decades that followed.

Hundreds of thousands of Hispanics served during World War II, acquiring skills and benefits from the GI Bill that allowed them to increase their incomes and leave barrios, Geraldo Cadava notes in his new book The Hispanic Republican: The Shaping of an American Political Identity, From Nixon to Trump.

Richard Nixons 1950 campaign for the Senate in California reached out directly to Hispanic voters through neighborhood visits and sound trucks blasting ads in Spanish. Nixon was rewarded with 25 percent of the states Mexican American vote. Two years later, many Hispanics were drawn to the presidential candidacy of Dwight Eisenhower, admiring his military record and messages in support of hard work.

The GOPs share of the Hispanic vote increased with the Nixon presidency. Ever since Nixons re-election in 1972, Hispanic Republicans have helped Republican presidential candidates win about a third of the Hispanic vote, wrote Cadava, a historian at Northwestern University.

Ronald Reagan made a widely cited comment that Hispanics were Republicans who just dont know it yet. There was a nexus between the partys stances and the views of many Hispanics on issues such as abortion, school vouchers, military services, same-sex marriage and opposition to welfare and other government programs viewed as handouts.

By the time the GOP became internally divided on immigration policy, Cadava wrote, many Hispanics had become loyal Republicans who did not split with the party over the issue. And, while Hispanic voters have sometimes felt like theyre taken for granted by Democrats, Republicans have consistently worked at outreach to their communities, historically and to the present day.

Its Republicans who tend to frequent megachurches that are attended mostly by Hispanics, Carlos Curbelo, a former GOP congressman from Florida, said during a recent webinar hosted by The New York Times. Some Republican politicians have been very shrewd at building relationships of trust by visiting these churches, all but getting endorsements from these pastors, who are very powerful.

As with other groups counting into the millions, theres no such thing as the Hispanic vote. The largest share of Hispanics are those of Mexican heritage, but Cuban Americans make up the largest portion of the Latino electorate in Florida. Others hail from countries including Colombia, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republican and El Salvador, or the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

Trump appeals to parts of these various constituencies in different ways. To many Mexicans, Barack Obama is remembered as the deporter-in-chief, since his administration deported some three million people (a policy Biden, his vice president, was slow to distance himself from).

Obama was the president who opened up relations and travel with Cuba. Democrats havent helped themselves with messages praising Cuban education or health care, says Gamarra, the Florida International University professor.

Trumps charges of socialism against Democrats have had a particular resonance among such voters.

Its the message that they are the ones that will stop communism, will stop socialism and put an end to the dictatorships of Venezuela and Nicaragua, Gamarra said. Inadvertently, the collapse of Venezuela has helped the Republican cause here with Hispanics.

Trumps law and order message has also gotten a receptive hearing.

Because a lot of Hispanic immigrants came from countries where they did suffer the consequences of a lack of law and order, they identify with that, Curbelo said. At least when the protests were raging, they did see Donald Trump as someone who could keep them safe.

In prior generations, Hispanic population growth was driven by immigration. Thats no longer the case. Now, the vast majority of growth comes from the native-born.

Second and third generation Hispanics tend to care less about immigration than jobs, health care and education. That may help explain both Trumps continuing appeal and Bidens overall polling lead.

As of late August, Hispanics were three times as likely to be infected with the coronavirus and four times as likely to be hospitalized as non-Hispanic whites. Their death rate was slightly higher. The unemployment rate for Hispanics in September was 10.3 percent, compared to seven percent for Anglos.

The Trump administration may have carefully courted Florida Latinos, both on policy and in terms of appointments, but Gamarra contends that the message has been more effective than the policy.

He notes that Cuban Americans in the Miami area are among the highest per capita consumers of Obamacare. Thats something the Biden campaign itself is well aware of.

On Monday night, they sent Obama to Miami, his second in 10 days. During his previous appearance on Oct. 24, Obama said of Trump, He says hes going to protect preexisting conditions, but Joe and I actually protected them with the Affordable Care Act.

More here:
Why Sizable Numbers of Hispanics Are Sticking With Trump - Governing

Sen. Kamala Harris is officially the first woman, first Black person, and first South Asian American person to be elected vice president of the United States. She and incoming President Joe Biden have won their bid against President Donald Trump and will be sworn in this January.

Harris has made history: No woman has ever served as vice president or president in the US. Her election to the office and the representation she brings is significant for many voters.

Shes the first Black woman to be considered vice president of this country, and it means so much to me, being a Black woman who is a leader, who looks up to people like her, Brittany Oliver, a womens rights activist and communications director who backed Harris during the primary, previously told Vox.

Harriss nomination for this role was groundbreaking. As the new vice president, Harris could play a major role in shaping policies and priorities for a Biden administration, while sending a strong message about whats possible for other women and people of color.

Some progressives have been conflicted about her nomination, however, given her record on criminal justice and positions she took on wrongful convictions and independent investigations of police shootings when she served as attorney general of California.

Harris spent much of her career as a prosecutor before getting elected to the Senate in 2016; she also ran for the presidency before she was named Bidens running mate this summer. During the presidential campaign, she acknowledged the historic nature of her candidacy.

It really does help to have examples of what can be done and role models, things you can point to, to make it clear that its not impossible and that, in fact, its quite probable that you can do these things and will do those things, Harris said in a recent interview with television host Padma Lakshmi.

Harris was named Bidens vice presidential pick in August, and she brings an extensive career in public service to the role. Shes served as Californias junior senator for nearly four years, and sits on the powerful Judiciary and Intelligence committees. During her time in the Senate, shes become known for her pointed questions of Trump administration nominees and officials including Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Policies that Harris has led as a senator have included the LIFT Act, which would provide monthly cash payments to many middle-class households, and the Justice in Policing Act, a sweeping police reform bill that would limit the legal protections that law enforcement officers currently have.

As a presidential nominee, Harris took more moderate stances on issues including health care, though she is considered liberal relative to most members of the Senate. One of her first campaign proposals focused on increasing teacher pay, while another sought to bar states from implementing restrictive abortion laws. Shes also been outspoken on immigration reform and proposed executive actions that could establish a path to citizenship for DREAMers, or undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children.

As the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, both of whom were civil rights activists, Harris has said that combating racial disparities has been a central focus of her career. She graduated from Howard University in 1986 and the University of Californias Hastings Law School in 1989, and has focused heavily on what she describes as reforming the criminal justice system from within. Before becoming a senator, Harris served for six years as California attorney general and two terms as San Francisco district attorney.

As Voxs German Lopez has written, her broader prosecutorial record as attorney general and district attorney has been criticized for its contradictions:

She pushed for programs that helped people find jobs instead of putting them in prison, but also fought to keep people in prison even after they were proved innocent. She refused to pursue the death penalty against a man who killed a police officer, but also defended Californias death penalty system in court. She implemented training programs to address police officers racial biases, but also resisted calls to get her office to investigate certain police shootings.

During her presidential campaign, the statement Kamala Is a Cop was used frequently to question her views on criminal justice reform.

Harris has emphasized that she used her time as prosecutor to hold major banks accountable for the mortgage crisis and implement changes including a database to track police use of force, though activists dont think she was willing to go far enough.

There have been prosecutors that refused to seat Black jurors, refused to prosecute lynchings, disproportionately condemned young Black men to death row and looked the other way in the face of police brutality, Harris said at a June 2019 event, Politico reported. It matters who is in those rooms. I knew I had to be in those rooms. We have to be in those rooms even when there arent many like us there.

Harriss nomination highlighted the importance of Black women, and women of color broadly, to the Democratic Party, energizing some voters who were inspired by her candidacy.

Kamala, really. She kicked it into overdrive, especially for what Ive seen in the Black community. A lot of people were already ... like, Eh, yeah, Ill vote for him [Biden], Ill do what I got to do. And then when she was put on the ticket, it was, Im voting, Christopher Walton, chair of the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County, previously told Voxs Sean Collins.

As the countrys new vice president-elect, Harris also dramatically expands the scope of leadership roles that women have held in US government. Weve opened up a space and possibility, Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, previously told Vox.

This year, a record-breaking number of Black, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Native American women have filed to run for the House, according to Rutgers Universitys Center for American Women and Politics. And Harriss success could well spur more women to do so, while increasingly normalizing greater representation in these leadership roles.

Voters are also looking to her and Biden to continue addressing racial and gender disparities in the policies they focus on; Oliver cited Harriss work on maternal mortality legislation as one example of such efforts.

It was back in November that she did a debate and talked about the importance of Black women, says Oliver. She used her platform to uplift Black women. That is exactly what the Democratic Party needs to hear.

Sean Collins contributed reporting.

Will you help keep Vox free for all?

Millions of people rely on Vox to understand how the policy decisions made in Washington, from health care to unemployment to housing, could impact their lives. Our work is well-sourced, research-driven, and in-depth. And that kind of work takes resources. Even after the economy recovers, advertising alone will never be enough to support it. If you have already made a contribution to Vox, thank you. If you havent, help us keep our journalism free for everyone by making a financial contribution today, from as little as $3.

Read more from the original source:
Election results: Kamala Harris is elected the first woman vice president - Vox.com