Trump vs Harris battle is more than an election

There have been 59 presidential elections in the United States (US) since 1789, when George Washington became the first commander-in-chief of the new nation. For nearly the next 220 years, presidential contenders shared one key characteristic — they were all White males, despite representing different political ideologies and parties, until Barack Obama was elected in 2008 as America’s first Black president. The Illinois junior senator’s election as the 44th president opened the door for other demographic groups, once relegated to the sidelines, to aspire to the presidency. Former first lady, senator, and secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful campaign in 2016 was another pivotal moment, as it marked the first time a woman was nominated as the torchbearer of a major party.

Even if Donald Trump once again prevents the election of the first female president, this contest is already one for the history books. Never before have two presidential nominees with such vastly different backgrounds faced off as the two main candidates vying to become president. The Democrat candidate, vice president Kamala Harris, like Obama, is biracial — the daughter of immigrant parents, Indian-born biomedical scientist Shyamala Gopalan, and Jamaican-American economist Donald Harris. Gopalan, a single mother, raised Harris and her sister Maya. While a student, Harris worked at McDonald’s. Her upbringing was not different from millions of hard-working Americans. Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, DC, known as a hub of the civil rights movement. She went on to earn a law degree from Hastings College of the Law at the University of California. Trump, on the other hand, was born into wealth. His father, Fred Trump, was a well to do Queens real estate developer. Donald was raised in a privileged environment, attending private schools and earned a degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business before joining his father’s business.

Harris rose to prominence through a focus on and a commitment to public service. Trump inherited a business empire from his multimillionaire father. He later became a media star on his TV show, The Apprentice.

Harris’s entire career, which began as a public defender, was in public service. She was a trailblazer, serving as the district attorney of San Francisco, the attorney general of California, a US senator from California, and a vice president — the first woman of South Asian and African-American descent to hold each of those positions. Trump’s first job in public service was as the president of the US. (He was the sixth businessman to serve as president.)

Their vastly different upbringing is reflected in the politics of Harris and Trump. The Democrat is much more sensitised to racial and immigrant issues and subscribed to progressive politics early on.

Harris is a product of the civil rights movement. Both of her parents were activists. Her interactions with young Black leaders and activists at Howard also shaped her politics. Trump’s relationship with the civil rights movement is more complex and controversial. Throughout his career as a businessman and politician, he has faced scrutiny for his stance on civil rights and racial issues. As a young real estate developer in the 1970s, his family’s business was sued by the US justice department for discriminatory practices in renting apartments to African Americans. In addition, Trump’s rhetoric and policies as president fuelled racial tensions by taking actions such as rolling back protections for minority communities and defending controversial civil war monuments which were seen by many as direct assaults on civil rights gains.

The personalities of the two candidates are also vastly different.

Trump has been labelled a self-centred narcissist, who, as the New York Times columnist David Brooks pointed out, is the product of the 1970s and 1980s at the “tail end of the culture of narcissism” — an “era of the unchained self — self-esteem, self-expression, self-promotion.” Harris is a quintessential public servant, for whom politics is about the people and unity. She projects her candidacy as an antidote to the politics of division and separation that Trump represents.

At this key moment, when the idea of a first woman president and the first Indian American president is in the realm of reality, it is worth remembering some of the key figures who made the Harris candidacy possible — the people of colour who tried to break the glass ceiling, despite knowing that they had little chance to get anywhere near the Oval Office.

The groundbreakers in this regard were: New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, a Democrat who ran for her party’s nomination in 1972, the first African American and the first woman to run for the nomination of a major party. African-American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Jr, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination twice in the 1980s, and the second time around won primaries in several states.

The world will soon know whether Kamala Harris will make a historic entry into the presidency. But one thing is clear: Her candidacy is symbolic of a changing America and the face-off against Trump is already a significant chapter in US history.

Frank F Islam is an entrepreneur, civic leader, and thought leader based in Washington DC.The views expressed are personal