Harris’ candidacy inspires young, red-state women with few role models in government

The race for president has tightened up compared with polls a few weeks ago when President Joe Biden’s substantial successes both in foreign and domestic policy were not registering with enough voters. Age was a critical factor, but with Vice President Kamala Harris now the Democratic Party’s chosen nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joining her on the ticket as the vice presidential candidate, that is no longer an issue for the Democrats.

Age should be an issue for Trump as he babbles on as though he has taken leave of his senses. Could there be any doubt?

With Biden judged on the age issue and attack dog Trump scurrying around the country holding his MAGA rallies of revenge, it is no wonder that Harris is moving the polls in her direction. If current momentum holds up, she is likely to be our next president. But regardless of the outcome in November, she has already provided a tonic for the body politic sorely in need of a morale booster.

No matter how hard the 81-year-old president tried to attract young voters, it wasn’t working. One commentator complained that we were suffocating in a gerontocracy. But along comes Harris to centerstage after waiting in the wings and preparing as vice president for that moment when she grabs the baton and runs with it.

Aside from how her candidacy has thrown Trump into a tizzy flailing about at his rallies and complaining that the opponent he just spent three years attacking and demeaning is off the ballot, Harris offers the American people an alternative to what Walz called “weird,” the best description yet of Trump and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance on the stump as candidates for the nation’s highest office.

Harris, this attractive, eloquent and good-humored candidate for president, in addition to driving Trump on his short trip to the looney bin, can inspire and energize young women to take part in what is likely to be a historic presidential election. She will serve as a role model for young women getting active in politics and government.

Trump Republicans would love nothing more than to convince our youth that they are the party of the future. But there’s a problem with that. It’s a future not of much interest to younger voters today.

It’s a future when women are still denied their reproductive rights. It’s a future when guns are plentiful and there are no restrictions to keep them out of the hands of dangerous people. It’s a future when freedom of press would no longer protect reporters from the heavy hand of government as Trump has promised his MAGA rallies. It’s a future when books are banned by right-wing zealots. It’s a future when elections are called off, as Trump recently promised Christian conservatives when he said there would be no elections once he’s returned to office.

That is the Republican future, and it is growing more dystopian and dangerous as Trump drives it further to the right to keep violent extremists in his service. Add Vance to the mix, and here’s a guy who believes women are only of value if they are having babies.

The rallying cry, “We’re Not Going Back,” says it all and younger voters get it. The contrast is mind-blowing. Here’s a woman of color who would be the first woman to be president, running against an aging convicted felon, the likes of whom she saw as a prosecutor on the other side of the law. In the initial first week of her campaign, she raised over $200 million, with 66% of those contributions coming from new donors. Many of those small contributions are likely from younger voters based on one of the latest polls. A recent Axios poll of 18-34-year-olds shows 60% for Harris and only 40% for Trump.

Harris is dramatically changing how young women see themselves as key players in public life. They see the confidence and competence of a woman who would not allow anyone to hold her back from her political destiny.

From my experience as an American Politics instructor for 28 years, I know something about how students can be inspired by public officials and can also be misled by simplistic solutions to the problems facing our nation.

I was teaching in the college classroom when President Ronald Reagan assumed office with his famous invective, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Consequently, I witnessed students losing interest in political science and related disciplines such as history. Instead, they headed for the business major or others more in keeping with their changing interests. The public service was degraded and downgraded by Reagan, and we still pay the price for his simplistic slogans.

It’s high time that today’s youth in high school or college in red states deserve to see and experience the work of women in leadership positions as they do in Nevada, where women hold a majority in both chambers of the state legislature, or blue-state Michigan where a most accomplished Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as she says, got “stuff” done. Read up on Whitmer and you will learn that she uses a far more colorful word than “stuff” to describe her legislative and gubernatorial successes.

Whitmer faced death threats by a gang of far-right vigilantes who tried to kidnap and kill her. Despite how Trump mocked and set her up for right-wing attacks, she demonstrated the courage of her convictions, ran for reelection and won. Young women in Michigan are also inspired by other women in statewide office, Attorney General Dana Nessel, a civil rights advocate, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson who enforced election integrity in the 2020 election and paid for it with armed demonstrators at her home protesting the 2020 election.

Unfortunately, in too many states, there is a small delegation of Democratic men and women in the legislature who fight valiantly to move state government in a more moderate direction. Too often, they are foiled by Republican leadership and party regulars who kill their bills in committee, so they never see the light of day.

Republicans in Congress are little better. They could give a hoot about reproductive rights and allow women access to abortions, at least when there are medical emergencies. They could defend the rights of women over their own bodies. Instead, they have all the answers and demand control over women across the country.

No matter how often their parents called for a Republican ballot in the past, there will be students who will look beyond an unimpressive cast of Republicans in federal and state office. They will see the promise of a new generation of leaders led by Harris and Walz. Finally, they will see the demise of a man who has ruined one political party and denigrated the other before his MAGA crowds to the extent that there is no decency or respect remaining as he excoriates anyone who differs with him. Cowardly Republican officeholders, at the state and federal level, join him on his spiteful and vindictive journey without a peep of dissension.

I am confident this behavior will change over time at the highest levels of our government as Harris models civility and decorum for a political process that Trump has trashed. She offers hope to young people stranded in states with little or no loyal opposition to a brand of politics that is destroying our democratic way of life. I will place the future of our grandchildren in the hands of Harris and Walz without a moment of hesitation.

Bob Kustra is a Republican who served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator before serving as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He writes a biweekly column for the Idaho Statesman.