Between Chaos and Consensus

In one of history’s ironic echoes of 1968, Harris bears some resemblance to Hubert Humphrey: heading into Chicago as the vice president to an incumbent who decided not to run for reelection. (Humphrey narrowly lost in November that year, so you won’t see Democrats drawing this parallel too often.) Harris has tried to avoid Humphrey’s fate by becoming, in a phrase, unburdened by what has been—distancing herself from both Biden’s record and her own past policy positions.

Since many Americans are dissatisfied with the country's direction, Harris has tried to position herself as the “change” candidate, a challenging task when you’re a sitting vice president.