On July 21, President Joe Biden announced that he was dropping out of the 2024 U.S. presidential election and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. Over the next two days, Harris held her first 2024 presidential campaign rally, raised more than $100 million and gained the support of enough delegates to secure the Democratic party nomination at the August Democratic National Convention.
Harris’s 2024 candidacy marks her second attempt to win the presidency. Before she became Vice President, Harris visited campus during her 2020 presidential campaign. The then-U.S. senator for California — who was two years into her first Senate term — spoke to around 400 students and Upper Valley residents in Alumni Hall on April 23, 2019.
“I [was] impressed by her experience and her poise, which I think will make her a really strong candidate on the debate stage against Trump and going forward,” former N.H. Rep. Garrett Muscatel ’20, D-Hanover — who introduced Harris at the campus event — said. “I think it’s really exciting, now that she’s looking like she’ll be the nominee, to have some youth and energy added to the ticket.”
According to government professor and American politics expert Mia Costa, Harris’s path to the Democratic nomination this second campaign is nearly guaranteed. She said she does not anticipate a “real, clear, legitimate challenge” to Harris from within the Democratic party.
To date, Harris’s 2024 campaign has garnered attention for its focus on Gen Z voters. For example, after singer Charli XCX tweeted that “kamala IS brat” — a reference to her eponymous 2024 studio album — the Vice President’s campaign rebranded to match the album’s aesthetic. Over the past week, traditional and social media outlets alike have been abuzz with Harris’s connection to Gen Z culture.
Notably, Harris’s 2020 campaign also sought to appeal to the younger generations. Muscatel, then a senior at the College, said the Harris campaign contacted him in 2019 because they wanted to “reach out to young voters.” At the campus event, Harris also lauded the importance of students.
“In the history of our country, some of the most significant advances we have made in our movement towards social justice and equality have been prompted and fueled by the students of America,” Harris said during her speech.
At the event, Harris also spoke about health care policy, gun control and climate change before answering questions from the audience — including one about her student loan forgiveness plan for college graduates.
Muscatel said he and several other students involved with the Dartmouth Democrats also spoke with Harris prior to the event. The “general impression” among those who spoke with her was that she was a “really great” candidate, Muscatel said.
“I think the whole ‘joyful warrior’ thing is legit,” Muscatel added. “Getting to know her during her [2020] campaign, I was struck by how kind and genuine she was, and she really is the exact kind of candidate that we need to take on Trump in this moment.”
More than five years later, some Dartmouth Democrats members feel similarly. Dartmouth Democrats communications director Lucy Vitali ’26 said she thinks Harris is a “fantastic candidate.”
“There’s just so much energy among the Democrats that I talk to and work with in so many different environments,” Vitali said. “Everyone is getting excited about the election, getting excited about going out and knocking on doors and talking to voters.”
Conservative Students of Dartmouth president Alex Azar ’25 said he was “gladdened” by Biden’s decision to step out of the race because voters in both parties can “once again have policy-centered discussions.”
“I think we have gotten bogged down in questions about senility, instead of discussing policy issues that are on the forefront of many Americans’ minds,” Azar said.
He added that Harris’s candidacy provides a “great opportunity” for conservatives to make the case for their policies. Azar said he thinks Harris has been “farther left” in her rhetoric and policies around climate change, abortion and the border than Biden.
While Costa said she thinks Harris has “momentum” and has “invigorated” Democrats, she is not sure how long the momentum will last. She added that the election will be an “uphill battle,” noting that Harris did not have “very high favorability” as Vice President.
“The election is still a long way away, and I kind of think Trump has the upper hand,” Costa said. “Democrats will have to convince voters that [they should pick Harris] even though she didn’t win the primary, and even though we’re in this unprecedented moment and the process doesn’t look like it usually does.”
Vitali said the Dartmouth Democrats have been working with the Biden-Harris campaign throughout this summer, and they were “finding it difficult to get people excited” about coming to events and knocking on doors. Vitali said she hopes that will change with Harris as the Democratic candidate.
“I think it will be so great in the fall when everybody comes back to campus,” Vitali said. “Students that weren’t that excited about coming to Biden events will be more excited to come to the Harris campaign events.”
Azar, however, questioned the extent of the grassroots support for Harris.
“A lot has been made of the grassroots enthusiasm that Harris has garnered since Biden stepped out of the race,” Azar said. “I don’t know how much I buy that. I think any grassroots enthusiasm we see is largely residual from the enthusiasm for Biden stepping out.”
Harris “really wasn’t a popular candidate” among Democrats in 2019 and didn’t “carve out a good base,” Azar said.
In order to win, Democrats need to unify quickly around the nominee, according to Costa.
“The main thing on my mind is whether the Democrats are going to be able to — in such a short time frame — really unite around a cohesive message to convince folks to turn out for whoever the nominee is,” Costa said. “It’s such a historical, unprecedented thing to have happened, and they need to send a unified message.”
Costa added that Harris faces a “double struggle” not only because she has to win over Democrats, but also because she is facing Trump, a “formidable opponent” who can mobilize Republican voters.
While Costa said she found Harris a “compelling” speaker at the 2019 event, she said “so much has happened” since April 2019.
“Will this momentum stay?” Costa asked. “So much is going to change in the next few weeks, let alone the next few months.”
