Kamala Harris' strengths and weaknesses as a presidential candidate, as told by experts

WASHINGTON — As Kamala Harris begins to campaign as the likely Democratic presidential nominee, she will be tested on her strengths and weaknesses on key issues, as well as on her political skills and groundbreaking role as a Black and Asian woman candidate, political analysts and experts said.

Harris has served for more than three years as President Joe Biden’s vice president, but now she will step into a much brighter spotlight and a steady stream of Republican attacks with just over 100 days left before the Nov. 5 election.

“Her national stature is largely unknown. She has been a consistent defender of Biden but has not, as yet, established a clear persona of her own,” said David Zarefsky, who teaches courses in the history and criticism of U.S. public discourse at Northwestern University.

“It will be a race to see whether she can define herself before the Trump campaign does it for her,” he said.

Newsday asked Democratic and Republican political consultants and academic experts about their assessment of Harris’ major strengths and weaknesses.

Here is what they said.

Strength: Women’s reproductive rights

This could be Harris’ strongest issue after the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade’s national legalization of abortion.

“Women’s reproductive health issues play to Harris’ advantage,” said Debbie Walsh, director of Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics. “We know that women feel very passionate about this issue.”

Weakness: Biden administration policies — especially immigration

Republican political consultant Whit Ayres said one of the biggest challenges Harris will face could be how she defends the Biden administration's policies.

“She's going to inherit many of the negative views of the administration on inflation, economy, taxes, Gaza,” said Ayres, “and the one she was in charge of: illegal immigration, the single greatest negative issue for this administration.”

Early in his administration, Biden tasked Harris with addressing the root causes of migration into the United States from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Some news outlets dubbed her “the border czar,” an inaccurate title that Republicans now are using to put blame on her for the historic flow of migrants illegally into the United States.

Strength: Harris’ age

At 59, Harris represents a generational shift in the Democratic Party and poses a challenge to Trump, who is 78, said New York Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. 

"There's a new generation that wants the opportunity to do this business," he said, referring to politics and government. 

Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University's National Center for Suburban Studies and a longtime political analyst, said, “Age is an absolute plus.” 

“She's young enough and energetic enough to appeal to young voters,” he said. “She's also old enough that she has to be taken seriously.”

He added, “And by comparison to Donald Trump, who looked young next to Joe Biden, she makes Trump look old.”

Weakness: Whispers

Some Republican lawmakers have publicly called Harris a “DEI hire” — an acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion, said Walsh at Rutgers. 

Top Republicans responded by saying the campaign should be about policy and not the personal, but even if it is not spoken aloud there could be a whisper campaign. “There's no doubt there's going to be misogynistic, racist things that will come her way,” Walsh said. 

Ayres said race and gender may not matter as much anymore: Barack Obama won presidential elections in 2008 and 2012 and Hillary Clinton won 3 million more votes than Trump did in 2016. But it will be an issue in some of the swing states.

Strength: Energizing the Democratic base

Before Biden removed himself from the ballot, many Democrats showed little enthusiasm about the presidential election. “In this context where you had waning interest among Blacks and even a flirtation with the idea of supporting the Republican, her race becomes an immediate benefit,” Levy said.

And her background gives Democrats a chance to shore up support from Asians, the fastest-growing voting bloc in suburban America that has been leaking toward Republicans, he said.

“It’s important to recognize that she's been campaigning since January to firm up the base for Biden,” said Republican strategist Susan Del Percio. “Whether it’s speaking to Latinos, or people of color, or young people, she's really been working those communities hard.”

Weakness: White men in swing states

Some worry Harris might lose white men in swing states, where either candidate may win the presidency by securing support from a relatively small group of voters who could make a big difference in the outcome of the election.

“She may not appeal as much to some of the white, blue-collar voters in the Upper Midwest, where Joe Biden was continuing to be relatively strong,” Ayres said.

For those voters put off by both Biden and Trump, Mike Dawidziak, a Long Island political consultant who works mostly with Republican candidates, asked, “The question is now as an alternative to Trump, will people turn to her?”

Suburban white voters did not like Biden or Trump, he said, adding, “The question is: Can they come to like Kamala Harris?”

Strength: Boosting downballot candidates

Sheinkopf said the switch from Biden to Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket gives Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) a better chance of winning the majority in their chambers in November.

“She reduces the immediate anxiety about Biden among existing House members who are in marginal seats and Senate seats,” Sheinkopf said. “She makes Schumer and Hakeem sleep better at night, because now they think they have a fighting chance to hold onto the Senate and to retake the House.”

Weakness: Unscripted speeches and her laugh

Harris speaks best when she has a script or a teleprompter, but she is also known for what critics call “word salads” that sound like a jumble of words that make little sense, said Ayres. “She's got all these statements out there that are just nonsensical,” he said.

He added, “She's got a cackle when she laughs. It just drives some people crazy.”

But in recent appearances, she has avoided the jumbled phrases and her laugh has been used on social media to appeal to younger people.

Strength: Raising money

“She had a tremendous 24-hour fundraising cycle,” Del Percio said. Harris’ campaign said she raised $81 million in the first 24 hours after she was endorsed by Biden on Sunday.

“What's even more interesting is she's getting a lot — tens of thousands — of new donors. I think she really brings out the base,” she added.

The Harris campaign said Tuesday it had raised $100 million between Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, with the money coming from 1.1 million individual donors, 62% of them first-time donors.

Weakness: First run as likely presidential nominee

Harris is embarking on what appears likely to be her first presidential campaign as a national party's nominee, said Levy. 

In 2019, Harris unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination yet she successfully ran as Biden's vice presidential candidate when they won the election in 2020.

"Even though she's been on a national stage — quite a bit more so than anybody else who could have replaced Biden on the ticket — she has never run for the top spot as the nominee," Levy said. "And she is facing off against someone who has run — and at least once out of two times, won it."