By Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth

Over the next few months, she’ll be under the microscope. Everything she’s ever said or done will be examined and reexamined. Her elementary school playmates will be found and interviewed. Guys she dated in college will find their way onto the pages of People magazine. People she worked with in her 20s will be asked for insights into her character. Unflattering photos and videos will be circulated over and over again on social media. And her critics—who have been waiting for this moment—will be ready to use racism, misogyny, and misinformation to make her look small.

From her laugh to her makeup, she will be criticized by the same people who ignore the fact that her spray-tanned, golf cart jockey of an opponent has the kind of body you get after 77 years of eating McDonalds and burned steak and chugging Diet Cokes. Meanwhile expect the same legion of naysayers who criticized Hillary for her pantsuits to soon be out in force.

As we’re bombarded with news and commentary from pundits (including a few hand-wringing members of my own party) who want us to believe she can’t win and from right-wing trolls who want us to believe she is an unqualified “DEI” candidate, some things to keep in mind:

• Kamala Harris is one of the most qualified people ever to run for president. In addition to her service as Vice President, she is a former US Senator, a former District Attorney of San Francisco, and a former Attorney General of California. 
• She was a rising star long before she ever set foot in Washington. As AG, she won a $20 billion settlement for Californians whose homes had been foreclosed on and a $1.1 billion settlement for students and veterans who were taken advantage of by a for-profit education company. She also defended the Affordable Care Act in court and enforced environmental laws. Her experience also included prosecuting rapists and criminals, which should serve her well in dealing with her opponent.
• She established the first Hate Crimes unit in the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. She also officiated at the first LGBTQ wedding after the passage of Proposition 8.
• As a US Senator, her pointed questioning of Trump appointees during Senate conformations was legendary. Several exchanges went viral, including one with future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on abortion rights. “Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?” she asked Kavanaugh during the exchange. Kavanaugh replied, “I’m not thinking of any right now, senator.” 

The daughter of an Indian mother and a Black father who met at a civil rights protest, Kamala Harris’s story is the myth-come-to-life version of America’s story that we all like to believe can still be true. It’s one of struggle, opportunity, service, and leadership while overcoming racial and gender barriers to make a great country even better. 

There is no getting around the fact that this is a fraught moment not only for Democrats, but for anyone who has taken even a brief look at the plans Trump has for the country in his Project 2025 blueprint for fascism.  Agreeing to step in for President Biden at this late date on the calendar puts the hopes, the dreams, and the focus of an entire country desperate to avoid repeating the disaster of a second Trump presidency squarely on her shoulders. Over the next few days, weeks, and months, her every word and gesture will be analyzed, reanalyzed, and molded to fit the media narrative of the moment by journalists and pundits less interested avoiding a totalitarian disaster than in promoting a horse race. Every minute of her life going forward will be an open book. Every attempt she makes to maintain even a minimal level of privacy will be instantly framed by critics as a “lack of transparency.” 

Having seen her in action at legislative conferences sponsored by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and looking objectively at all that she’s accomplished in her 59 years, I believe she’s more than up to the task of rising to the moment—and beyond. Put simply, she is more than ready to seize the opportunity to prove that she can be a worthy successor to one of the best and most effective presidents of my lifetime. 

But it’s an opportunity that only we, the voters, can give her.

I hope all Granite Staters who are doubters will give her a chance. Because, unlike her opponent—who has shown us who he is time after time, from his “grab ‘em by the p****y” moment to inciting an insurrection after he lost the last election—Kamala Harris has shown us through her record of public service and her willingness to take on some of the biggest challenges our country faces that she deserves the benefit of a doubt and the opportunity to win our full and unconditional support.

Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth

Editor’s note: InDepthNH.org takes no position on candidates but welcomes diverse ideas at nancywestnews@gmail.com

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