.The Politics of Joy

As Kamala Harris takes the stage in Chicago this week as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, Santa Cruzans see a new kind of blue wave stretching from California to Washington.

“I’m very, very, very excited that she is running for president. Kamala is exactly what we need,” said Elaine Johnson, president of the NAACP’s Santa Cruz County office. “She is what this country needs right now to keep building on what she and Biden have put in place.

“We cannot go backwards, we just can’t,” Johnson added. “As someone of African American descent, I say we just can’t. Vice President Harris’ advocacy and emphasis for key issues such as healthcare, housing, civil rights, economic fairness and education, just to mention a few, is what this country needs. This is the world that I want us to live in.”

From the moment Oakland-born Harris, 59, was pulled by events to the top of the Democratic ticket, an astonishing wave has been unleashed. In politics a “blue wave” has referred to major thresholds reached in seats won, but 2024 could well be the year that “blue wave” gains a broader meaning.

Here’s the amazing thing about those rare times in human history when huge, decisive change comes along: No one sees it coming beforehand. That’s how it was when the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, and people danced in the Todesstreifen where earlier they’d been shot and killed, and soon the Soviet Union itself was no more. No press prognosticators predicted that then, just as none predicted this now: A vertiginous span of four weeks that shifted U.S. politics as much as any month in our lifetimes, so much so that after years of thinking the U.S. experiment in democracy was on the ropes, it seems to be reviving in front of our eyes.

Could democracy actually work? Can an anti-democratic movement based on whipping up hate and resentment actually be defeated by joy, (relative) youth, fresh ideas and a sharp sense of humor? It’s starting to look that way. Bizarre as it’s been to accept, suddenly, yes, it’s OK to feel OK. It’s OK to feel joy. And excitement. And belief. And hope. This is not about Democrat and Republican, or blue and red. This is about a fever seeming to break and Harris owning the moment and speaking for the best in us instead of the worst.

Here in Santa Cruz, we are optimistic people, because we believe in the blue wave, we believe in forces that can carry us joyously forward. Sure, we might take a tumble, along the way (“Cowabunga!”), but as Vice President Harris keeps saying, “We’re not going back.” I truly believe that by next year, the MAGA fever may truly have broken, and we can talk about national priorities, and people running for office, without toxic levels of insult and smear.

An honest excitement is in the air. Here’s a remarkable reminder of how historic this election is: If current trend lines continue, based on how poll results have flipped the last four weeks, the United States will elect its first woman president—and that dramatic barrier-busting threshold has hardly even been mentioned.

“I feel such a difference,” Chorel Centers, events director at Bookshop Santa Cruz, told me over the weekend. “I think it’s this shift in energy, just the mood, from a sense of pre-defeat to upswelling possibility. There’s this relief, like ‘She can punch back!’”

On June 27 when Joe Biden had a very bad night at the debate in Atlanta, Centers texted me: “Oy. What are we going to do?!”

I wrote back: “Wish I had a good answer. I’d say: Stay alert! The ground is going to shift a lot, day by day, in dramatic and unforeseeable ways. Opportunities to do something will emerge.”

The ground could well shift some more, and possibly in dramatic and unforeseeable ways, as Centers tries to keep in mind. “After the debate it was so pathetic,” she said. “There was a feeling of weariness about Biden and almost a sense of predetermination about Trump winning. And I was thinking: No, we can’t succumb to this sense of inevitability. Now that the energy has gone 180. it’s almost a sense of inevitability in the other direction, which is also something to be cautious about.”

One huge shift has been the dramatic extent to which young people have been activated by the excitement and sense of promise of the Harris-Walz ticket. As alienating and dispiriting as it was for young voters inclined to vote Democratic to have Joe Biden’s age to worry about, suddenly with Harris at the top of the ticket Trump is the old one, looking older by the day somehow. Harris-Walz rallies have been electric, with a sense of joy, a sense of humor, along with a fearlessness that connects well with younger voters. A Washington Post poll released over the weekend showed that from July to August the Harris-Walz ticket gained among younger voters (under 40) by a whopping 18 percent swing.

The sense of a dramatic difference is particularly powerful here in Santa Cruz, where many in politics have known Harris for years and worked with her when she was deputy district attorney of Alameda County and then district attorney of San Francisco and, later, California’s attorney general. That group includes Santa Cruz Supervisor Zach Friend, a former spokesperson for Obama for America, who has worked with Harris going back to her days as San Francisco district attorney.

“It’s shifted tremendously,” he said. “Not just the fact that there was a change at the top of ticket, but there’s a lot of excitement that this is a candidate who is California’s own. So many of us in Santa Cruz County have worked along with Kamala on different issues, it’s become very personal to make sure that she has an opportunity to serve the people of the United States as president. Having a personal connection really does amplify the excitement.”

Friend emphasized that excitement is not just an atmospheric shift, it’s a development with real on-the-ground importance to how the race might play out. “There’s a renewed sense of optimism, but more important there’s a renewed sense of purpose,” he said. “People want to volunteer to phone bank, they want to volunteer to knock on doors. I’ve had local attorneys here in Santa Cruz ask me how they can do voter protection work in swing states.”

The fact remains that, as much as has been transformed, it remains a distinct possibility that the November election could be very, very close, and two important states are Nevada and Arizona. The more that people in Santa Cruz sign up to do, like volunteering to canvass or make calls in those two states, the more the surge in energy can have practical, tangible benefits. When Harris took over the No. 1 spot, she jumped right in, like Brock Purdy when suddenly called on to quarterback the 49ers, looking like she was born to do this.

“She’s remarkably compassionate and has exceptional emotional intelligence,” said Friend. “I think that folks that have worked with her for the last twenty or so years are not surprised to see the real Kamala on display for the nation now that so many in the Bay Area had known her to be. It’s easy for media narratives to try to box people in, and being vice president is an exceptionally challenging thing. You’re burdened by things that you have no control over. Now that she’s the lead, this is who so many people in the Bay Area have seen. People who have been around her are not at all surprised. She’s the real deal and has the perfect mix of empathy and toughness and intellect and emotional intelligence.”

Jodi Hicks, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, had a sharp warning for people who might underestimate Harris.

 “People that know her and have worked with her in California expected nothing less,” she said. “Underestimating women of color is what we do in this country. People definitely underestimated the enthusiasm that Vice President Harris would bring to the top of the ticket. We’ve seen a lot of energy, a lot of inspiration, a lot of joy. We’re from California, so we know Vice President Harris well, we know how much she’s been a champion for women and health care.

“We know she’ll bring that energy and passion and be a real champion for generations to come. We’re living in a state where our daughters have less rights than we did growing up, and we know that’s top of mind for Harris, and always has been. She worked on those issues in California and she’ll work on them at the top of the ticket. We couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Elaine Johnson recalled being at a memorial service where Harris spoke. “She was very personable,” she said. “She was shaking hands. She was saying hi. She gives you the eye contact. She’s just a very strong woman who sees everyone.”

When it came time for a change, Johnson said, she was sure Harris would live up to the moment. “This is something I learned a long time ago from my father. I’m born and raised in New York, and he says, ‘Always know when it’s time to step aside and let somebody else step in,’” she said. “So yes, I knew that Biden was dating past 80 and … he was struggling with the COVID and I said, ‘You know what? It’s time for you to be with your family.’ We have somebody capable. Vice President Kamala Harris is capable to take the baton and continue to do the work that they both built on.”

It’s way too early to look ahead to a President Harris in office, and what that would mean for California, but what we’ve seen in recent months has clearly been a dramatic return of California influence on the national stage. Let’s not forget that when Biden faltered so horribly in Atlanta, it was California Governor Gavin Newsom, there on the scene in Atlanta, who defended him as his top surrogate.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi played a decisive hand in encouraging Biden to make the necessary move, which was—we should all be clear—his decision and his alone in the end.

Back in June 2018, I wrote a New York Times Sunday Review article under the headline “The Californization of America,” predicting more West Coast influence looking forward. It may have been one of those predictions that turns out to look pretty good on particulars but bad on timing.

“The state is home to a crop of politicians to watch, from Kevin McCarthy on the right to Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris on the left, part of a wave that is likely to dominate American politics for the next generation,” I wrote then.

“It’s also a given that one or more Californians could figure prominently in the 2020 presidential race, including Ms. Harris, a first-term senator who has gained a reputation for her withering examinations of the president’s cabinet nominees.”

So no, Harris did not come out of nowhere, as some have pretended to believe.

She has much to offer that goes beyond politics, according to the people who know her best and have followed her career for years. That does not mean her candidacy—or her tenure in office, should she get that far—will be without setbacks, or fumbles. Of course not. But in choosing in her first weeks at the top of the ticket to emphasize believing in people, and believing in possibility, a move not without boldness and courage, she has already moved the country forward in some ways.

Asked if she thought the Harris candidacy was in some ways bigger than politics, Johnson replied, “Oh, it’s always bigger than what’s in front of us. Always. And what I’m reminded of, as Kamala demonstrates, she’s a woman of class. She can educate you in a way where she’s not hurting and harming or trying to injure your character because she knows that would move the needle. She will educate us in a way where she’s not knocking someone else to appease ‘the other side.’”

Johnson, as we spoke longer, grew emotional, because this hits so close to home.

“You know why?” she asked. “Because there is no other side. This is one country. It’s just one country. And as we continue to witness and celebrate and support her, whatever we have to do for her to get elected, us as individuals have to remember this as we’re sitting at this table. That in the midst of this all, life is still good and great and glorious. That we still honor and love our family and our friends and our sisters and brothers. It doesn’t matter, we can still show up with love in our heart.”

That was the electrifying force of energy she felt taking part in a Win With Black Women Zoom call. “I was part of that 44,000 Black women (Zoom), and I’m telling you I’ve been riding high since then,” she said. “That is what is feeding my soul. That is what is keeping my cup filled. That group was a demonstration, look at the impact of that.”

The Zoom movement has been an unexpected and unforeseen mobilizer of people and energy—and dollars—for the Harris-Walz campaign. There was even a White Dudes for Harris Zoom meeting, featuring a cameo from The Dude himself, actor Jeff Bridges. Former Golden State Warriors coach George Karl is now taking an active role in organizing a Hoops for Harris Zoom for Sept. 4. Anyone is welcome to sign up at hoopsforharris.org. (And I for one would be shocked if current Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn’t make an appearance there, probably along with one or two Warriors stars, possibly a Steph Curry or a Draymond Green.)

“We have all these different people now coming together as one mind, saying regardless of what’s going on, that we’re going to stay centered and grounded in the truth because it’s the truth that moves the needle,” Johnson said. “It’s the lies, judgments and the harm that just sets us back. And so every Sunday I get the opportunity to be with thousands and thousands of other Black women who remind me, one, we deserve to be here. Two, Kamala deserves to be the President of the United States. And three, let’s keep on keeping on to make this world a better place, not just for us, but our youth coming behind us.”

Harris represents a younger generation that comes without some of the baggage, some of that history with all the scars it carries, and can instead tilt toward the future, as the great John Lewis always recommended.

“Kamala doesn’t come with that lens,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to shift these lenses. And that’s why I’m so incredibly grateful that there is a white men for Kamala. I’m glad they have that. I’m glad that they have white women for Kamala. I’m so glad they have that. Because it’s true. My wife is Caucasian. I love her like it’s nobody’s business.

“And we have different experiences. And the reason why we are still together today, 13 years, is because she has been willing and open to learning and understanding my experiences. When we are walking down the street, when we’re walking in a store, when I’m at a certain meeting or board table or whatever. …. You see Kamala, she’s talking and shaking everybody’s hand. She is lifting everybody up. And we have to get to this place where we lift each other up regardless of the color of our skin.”