Hillary Clinton, who holds a spot in history as the country’s only female presidential nominee from a major party, is now hoping Kamala Harris can do what she couldn’t: defeat Donald Trump and break the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” in American politics.
Clinton, in an op-ed endorsing Harris in the New York Times, says she knows how Vice President Harris can do it this time.
“I know a thing or two about how hard it can be for strong women candidates to fight through the sexism and double standards of American politics,” Clinton wrote, championing Harris — who is now the likely Democratic nominee — as a “a savvy former prosecutor and successful vice president who embodies our faith that America’s best days are still ahead.”
Harris’s “record and character will be distorted and disparaged” as she runs against former president Donald Trump, Clinton warned, adding that “she and the campaign will have to cut through the noise.”
Clinton, who had previously endorsed Harris, suggested that she lean on her record as a prosecutor and President Biden’s vice president. “She has a great story to tell about the accomplishments of this administration,” she said.
Clinton also said that the GOP push for abortion bans after Roe v. Wade was overturned — which has already given Democrats a powerful argument to turn out their base — could help further galvanize women voters.
Clinton, who in 2016 was the first woman to be on a major party ticket, faced a bitter and bruising campaign in which Trump repeatedly mocked her appearance and questioned her mental health. “I’ve been called a witch, a ‘nasty woman’ and much worse. I was even burned in effigy. As a candidate, I sometimes shied away from talking about making history. I wasn’t sure voters were ready for that,” she said. “While it still pains me that I couldn’t break that highest, hardest glass ceiling, I’m proud that my two presidential campaigns made it seem normal to have a woman at the top of the ticket.”
Clinton notes that Harris will face even more challenges as the first Black and South Asian woman to be at the top of a major party’s ticket. “That’s real, but we shouldn’t be afraid,” she said. “It is a trap to believe that progress is impossible.”
Already, Harris has faced attacks that her supporters likened to the racist tropes about Black women — and some Republicans have decried her as a potential “DEI” president, referencing diversity, equity and inclusion programs that conservatives who want to end them claim lead minorities to get jobs over more qualified White candidates. Harris is “chronically underestimated, as are so many women in politics, but she is well prepared for this moment,” Clinton wrote.
Clinton suggested that Harris focus on policy achievements of the Biden administration — including steering U.S. economic recovery in the wake of the covid pandemic, tackling the cost of drugs and student debt.
Biden has added 15 million jobs in less than four years, brought the Black unemployment rate to a record low and reduced student loan debt by billions, as The Post has previously reported, though Trump presided over a period of low inflation, low interest rates and low gas prices. While Biden’s White House has aimed to cancel huge amounts of student loan debt, Republicans have challenged his plans in court and broadly argue such relief is fiscally irresponsible and unfair to the those who never attended college or already paid off their education loans.
“Ms. Harris will have to reach out to voters who have been skeptical of Democrats and mobilize young voters who need convincing. But she can run on a strong record and ambitious plans to further reduce costs for families, enact common-sense gun safety laws and restore and protect our rights and freedoms,” Clinton wrote.
Clinton acknowledged that there is limited time to organize a successful campaign for Harris with elections due in the next three months but argued that it was possible, pointing to recent left-wing political victories in Britain and France.
Harris, Clinton wrote, should lean into her past roles as a prosecutor, in her fight against Trump — whom she called “a convicted criminal who cares only about himself and is trying to turn back the clock on our rights and our country.”