By the time Vice President Kamala Harris concluded her remarks Friday, a significant chunk of the attendees inside Glendale’s Desert Diamond Arena had been there for over five hours. Some waited for hours outside before the doors opened, combatting the 107 degree Fahrenheit heat with Gatorade and popsicles, as lines snaked around the arena. Then, after Harris concluded her remarks, some chose to linger on the arena floor, dancing.
“I was not this excited about Biden,” Simonne Campos told me, bobbing to the music blasting overhead. “He had a great career. But this” — she lifted her hand and signaled around — “this is crazy.”
The craziness is the result of a newfound Democratic optimism, supercharged by President Joe Biden’s exit from the ticket and Harris’ new role atop it. For perhaps the first time in eight years, it’s Democrats, not Republicans, whose rallies more closely resemble concerts than political events. Harris travels with a DJ who mixes Beyoncé, Bad Bunny and Saweetie between speakers. An aesthetic accompanies the movement — instead of MAGA, it’s “brat,” a nod to the Gen Z voters pushing her online momentum and staffing her campaign.
“The excitement among young people is palpable,” said Jose Garcia, a college student from Tucson who recently started volunteering for the campaign. The Harris rally Friday was the first event he worked.
This was, not long ago, a campaign barreling toward the worst Democratic showing among young voters in decades. Young people were unenthused with Biden long before the June 27 debate sent Democrats into a spiral. They already thought he was too old and too unrelatable, and as young people were slowly trending to the right, the newfound angst among young progressives over Biden’s position on Israel-Palestine hollowed out his base. The post-debate Democratic meltdown further stifled enthusiasm.
Then, when Biden ducked out of the race on July 22, he paved the way for Harris to rebrand the campaign — and pump new life into it. The result? Three weeks of Democratic excitement and optimism, a clear split screen between the aged Biden operation and the youthful Harris campaign. A bump in the polls followed: Harris now leads Trump by two percentage points nationally, a margin Biden hadn’t enjoyed for the better part of the last year. Six of the seven swing states are now “toss-ups,” per Cook Political Report, even after Trump led in each one for months. And among young voters, Harris seems to be turning the tide that was breaking toward Trump.
“There is such good energy,” said Jon Brown, a 42-year-old Mesa resident. “This is the type of thing that can carry on.”
Can Harris maintain her momentum?
But how long does that energy last? Harris is running a campaign fueled by “vibes,” but those vibes need to last until November. The path ahead post-honeymoon gets more difficult. She has seemed try to pivot to the center on a number of policy positions, but she hasn’t had to answer for those changes: She has not done a sit-down interview since she became the presumptive nominee. She seems to be simultaneously running on the wins of the Biden-Harris administration, while attempting to distance herself from the malaise that sunk the Biden campaign.
The Trump campaign is banking on a return to reality before long. “We are witnessing a kind of out-of-body experience where we have suspended reality for a couple of weeks,” Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s chief pollster, told Politico. “And in that suspended reality, it’s almost like Kamala Harris never met Joe Biden, you know, they were passing acquaintances.”
It seems the Harris campaign, at present, is doing the same dance Democrats have slammed Trump and Republicans for doing: running an issues-light campaign defined by what they are against. “Our campaign is not just us versus Donald Trump: Our campaign is about two different visions for our country,” Harris insisted.
What does Harris believe?
But on Friday, Harris failed to enunciate exactly what that vision includes. Aside from red-meat Democratic policy issues — like abortion, gun violence and voting rights — she spoke only in vague terms about her platform. She promised to build a “broad-based economy” and “put middle-class and working families first.” On immigration, she spoke about her record as a litigator and slammed Trump for blocking February’s border bill. Many of her promises were repetitions of the Biden administration’s chief initiatives: providing affordable health care, extending parental leave, lowering the costs of prescription drugs. But she was sparse in detail, and little more is available elsewhere. Her campaign website is still missing a policy page.
And what of the 2024 primary-that-wasn’t, a missed opportunity to not only vet Harris ahead of November, but fully flesh out just who she is as a candidate? Attendees at Friday’s rally seemed unbothered by the hypothetical. “I would’ve enjoyed the competitiveness of a primary,” said Joseph Fuentes, 37, of Phoenix. “But I’m not sad with how things went. She’s the right choice.”
“Coulda, woulda, shoulda,” added Campos. “What happened, happened.”
Why didn’t Harris pick Sen. Mark Kelly as her running mate?
If any Arizonans are disappointed that Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., is not Harris’ running mate, too, they hid it well. Kelly was on Harris’ shortlist to be her vice president, and if selected, he would’ve become the first Arizonan ever on the Democratic presidential ticket.
“At first, I was a little down,” admitted Tim Rock, 67, of Scottsdale. “But the more I learn about (Minnesota Gov. Tim) Walz, the more awesome he seems.” Walz, who spoke before Harris, earned raucous applause, as did Kelly himself, who was one of the rally’s opening speakers. “Mark (Kelly) is an extraordinary leader,” Harris said, perhaps in consolation, shortly after taking the stage. “I am so grateful, Mark, for your friendship and your leadership.”
Kelly or no Kelly, Arizona Democrats are firmly on board. The Harris calculation, it seems, is to ride this wave into the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off in ten days, and then hope the post-DNC boost lasts through Nov. 5. If the past month is any indication, though — where we saw an attempted assassination, a sitting president terminate his reelection bid, and a complete reshuffling of a major-party ticket — anything could happen over the next three months. Running on vibes may not last.
But for the moment, the vibes are good. Call them “electric,” said Brown. No — “historic,” said Rock. Or “happy,” per Toni s of Glendale. “This is something special,” said Grady Kimball, a college student from Gilbert. “We’re sick of seeing the same people running. Now we get someone younger.”
That goes for the candidate and her supporters, it seems. Twenty minutes after Harris left the stage, Whitney Houston still blasted over the speakers, and the arena floor was still filled with clumps of young people, bobbing to the music. One group wore matching lime-green shirts, with vinyl letters spelling “KAMALA” ironed onto the front. “We made them last night,” Jennifer Aguirre told me, smiling. Her friend chimed in. “We wanted to feel this new energy,” Brandon Sosa added, smiling.
