What would it look like if Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee for president?

Three more Democratic congressmen called for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the race following his Thursday night press conference, as the president is still struggling to tamp down concerns in his own party about his cognitive state.

However, a lingering question for many Democrats is: who could possibly replace Biden as the nominee (especially after they refused to seriously consider this question during presidential primary season)? Even the Biden campaign is asking this question; according to mainstream media reports, it is “quietly testing” the possibility of replacing Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Substituting a candidate is a bit more complicated than switching a pitcher, and it’s not entirely clear what rules would govern such an exchange, or whether anyone would follow them. Such a move has no precedent in the modern era of presidential politics, when parties have selected their nominees through a primary election system. But then, an 81-year-old president seeking reelection is also unprecedented.

What is more straightforward are the policies, performance, and leadership Harris brings to the table, based on her record as attorney general of California, then senator, and now vice president.

Policies

Expanding abortion has always been “a recurrent issue” for Harris, her biographer Dan Morain told The Sacramento Bee. The issue continues to dominate her schedule; since the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision in June 2022, Harris had held more than 90 abortion events across 21 states. That equals out to nearly one abortion event per week over the course of two whole years.

Whatever calorie-free word salads she utters on other topics, Harris has demonstrated the ability to communicate passionately and effectively about abortion — even when the facts aren’t on her side. She recently declared that “Donald Trump would ban abortion nationwide,” even after Trump said plainly in the debate he would not. At the same time, Harris promised to “do everything in our power to stop him and restore women’s reproductive freedom” — which she understands to include a federal law authorizing abortion up until the moment of birth.

Harris’s pro-abortion record dates back to her time as attorney general of California, where she prosecuted pro-life pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) for not helping pregnant women seek and obtain abortions. That controversy eventually percolated to the Supreme Court as NIFLA v. Becerra, and the Supreme Court finally ruled that California’s policy unconstitutionally compelled the speech of PRCs in violation of their deeply held beliefs. Harris never apologized for this stance and continues to advocate for the removal of conscience protections on the issue of abortion.

Besides abortion, Harris’s other areas of passion also fall into what are sometimes called “culture war” issues. The Sacramento Bee also identified her history on Medicare for All, marijuana legalization, and opposition to the death penalty.

Harris has also promoted the LGBT agenda since at least 2004, when, as a local district attorney, she officiated same-sex weddings “in defiance of state and federal regulations.” As attorney general of California, Harris refused to defend Proposition 8, a successful ballot measure defining marriage as a one-man, one-woman union and sided against it in federal court. Harris continues to play an active role in the Biden administration’s pro-LGBT policymaking and messaging.

Performance

As vice president, one of Harris’s primary areas of responsibility has been tackling the immigration crisis. Specifically, beginning in March 2021, she focused on “efforts to address the root causes of migration.” As of at least March 2024, Harris continued to lead those efforts.

At the risk of oversimplification, everyone knows that the root causes of migration are essentially two. First, the economic system and Christian-infused society that leftists want to destroy has made life in America significantly better than in many other countries. Second, non-Americans believe they can enter America, even illegally, and enjoy the benefits of American life — because, when people enter America illegally, they are allowed to remain and enjoy the benefits of American life. The Trump administration zeroed out the second cause by controlling the southern border, slowing illegal crossings to a trickle. The Biden administration recreated the crisis by reopening the border.

It seems that Harris’s mission was to zero out the first root cause of migration by making life in Central America as good as it is in the United States. (Chicago’s left-wing government has done their part, lowering the quality of life in America to the point that illegal immigrants have left the city for Venezuela.) Harris has overseen diplomatic dialogue with Central American countries, as well as the shipping of 10 million COVID vaccines to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, while studiously avoiding America’s own southern border.

The most obvious flaws in this strategy are 1) its false assumption that illegal border crossers are only coming from Central America’s northern triangle and 2) the absurd scope of recreating Americanesque prosperity and stability — which took hundreds of years to build — with four years and the government’s pocket change.

But perhaps I just can’t comprehend Harris’s strategic brilliance; perhaps she is playing 4D-chess with a mastery I can’t even imagine. If so, the results should speak for themselves. So, how is the immigration crisis doing these days?

Leadership

Finally, Harris’s 20-year political career has also generated a leadership record worthy of examination. Or, to put it another way, what is she like as a boss? Do her aides flourish and benefit by working for her? Because, if Harris were to become president, a lot more people would be working for her, in positions that are a lot harder to refill.

On the contrary, Harris’s VP team has seen an exceptionally high amount of turnover, even by White House standards. Two advance (the team that coordinates travel arrangements) staffers left in June 2021, followed by the director of digital strategies in July. Four more communications staffers resigned in short order in late 2021. In January 2022, Harris’s directors of press operations and public engagement announced they were taking positions elsewhere on the same day, followed by her chief speechwriter in February. By July 2022, “more than 13 high-profile aides” had left, including another director of speechwriting.

At times, the disarray in the vice president’s office is so manifest that even mainstream outlets depicted it as “internal palace intrigue” and “the same old destructive patterns.” Former staffers complained that Harris failed to read briefing materials, then would lash out when she was unprepared. “With Kamala, you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully, and it’s not really clear why,” griped one. “People are thrown under the bus from the very top, there are short fuses, and it’s an abusive environment. It’s not a healthy environment and people often feel mistreated,” said another.

Those aren’t right-wing conspiracy theories. Those are the words of true-believer leftists, who agreed with Harris’s radical agenda, yet couldn’t stand to work for her. Those are the words of true-believer leftists, as recorded in those extensions of the Democratic Party known as the mainstream media.

It’s still uncertain whether Democrats will jettison Biden as their nominee. But, if they decide to trade him for Harris, these policies, this performance, and this leadership are what they are likely to have instead.

Editor’s Note: Morain objected to this characterization of his statement. As originally quoted in The Sacramento Bee, Morain said, “Women’s health issues, that’s been a recurrent issue for her.” Women’s health is a common euphemism for abortion that deliberately ignores the personhood of the unborn.

Originally published at The Washington Stand.