Daily Times

Kamala Harris is aiming to make history as America’s first Black and South Asian woman president — but she has not leaned into the prospect.

Instead, Harris has steered well clear of mentioning race and gender during speeches, rallies and the first press conference of her lightning campaign.

The 59-year-old Democrat has also refused to engage with Republican rival Donald Trump and his allies when they have tried to bait her by questioning her racial identity and making sexist attacks. Rather, Harris seems to be focusing on the broader excitement over her replacing President Joe Biden as candidate, and on issues like the cost of living that she believes voters care more about.

Her reluctance to rely on her trailblazing status as a selling point was on full display when she and her running mate Tim Walz gave their first interview to CNN on Thursday.

Harris was asked about a photo circulating of her grand-niece watching her Democratic National Convention speech in Chicago, which went viral as a symbol of the breaking of racial and gender barriers in America.

But Harris was not biting.

“I am running because I believe that I am the best person to do this job at this moment for all Americans, regardless of race and gender,” Harris told CNN.

Harris was equally dismissive when asked about Trump’s inflammatory accusation that she leaned into her Black identity for political gain. “Same old, tired playbook. Next question, please,” she said with a laugh. ‘Precious time’: One reason for her approach is that Trump’s attacks are so far merely drawing attention to her history-making status, rather than damaging her, said Jesse J. Holland, an assistant professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University.

“Why spend your precious time talking about things when your opponent’s doing it for you — and perhaps not successfully?” Holland told AFP.

Harris is also helped by the fact that she is already a known quantity as the first ever Black, female and South Asian vice president, even if voters are still getting used to her as a presidential candidate.

She has not shied away from talking about her background as the daughter of a Jamaican-born father and an Indian-born mother.

She began her convention speech with a heartfelt tribute to her mother, a “brilliant, five-foot tall brown woman who taught her children to ‘never complain about injustice, but do something about it.'”

But going further and explicitly ramming home a message on race and gender is not necessarily a vote winner across the board.