Charles M. Blow: Harris, Walz and Democrats’ joyful campaign

On Tuesday, during Tim Walz’s debut speech as Kamala Harris’ running mate, he thanked Harris for “bringing back the joy.”

It wasn’t until then that I fully realized just how much joy has been generating the electricity behind Harris’ presidential candidacy. Not because of some specific stance that Harris has taken – she isn’t articulating policy positions that differ substantially from President Joe Biden’s. She is, however, allowing herself to be the vessel for pent-up liberal energy.

I underestimated how much soul damage Democratic voters had suffered over the past 3 years – not in the main because of the Biden administration, but because of the seemingly endless culture wars – and how that damage had jelled into a form of electoral depression.

The movement for Black lives peaked and then waned while the cultural backlash to it (and to so-called wokeness) became a cottage industry. Police reform in the form of federal legislation not only failed, but the idea of it also became radioactive. Federal voting rights legislation stalled and many states rushed to enact new voter restrictions.

Around the country, various states sought to restrict LGBTQ rights, stifle the teaching of Black history and curtail the freedom of protesters.

The Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and dismantled affirmative action in college admissions.

On top of all that was a war in the Gaza Strip – yes, supported by the Biden administration – that many young progressives in particular saw as unconscionable.

While he was still in the 2024 race, Biden’s campaign presented Democrats with the option to stay the course to protect American democracy. That was an accurate description of the stakes, but also negative messaging dependent on defensiveness and fear.

In one fell swoop, though, when Biden stood down and Democrats coalesced around Harris, a new possibility was born, one in which voters wary of another Donald Trump presidency could trade dread for optimism. Democrats now had something to fight for as much as to fight against.

Last year, when Biden was gearing up to announce his re-election bid, Terrance Woodbury, a founding partner at the consultancy HIT Strategies, whose research includes surveying Black voter sentiment, told me something that has stuck with me: Young Black voters – young Black men in particular – are less responsive to political messages of fear and loss and more responsive to messages of gain and empowerment.

Electing a second Black president, who would also be, of course, the first woman and first Asian American president, would be an opportunity to demonstrate gain and empowerment, not just for Black voters but for the whole Democratic coalition – for the whole country. It’s a chance to bolster a bedrock liberal belief: that diversity benefits society overall.

Republicans have slammed Harris as a DEI candidate, tossing around the acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion to insinuate that she didn’t earn her position. But overwhelmingly, one of the reasons Democrats are excited about her is that she’s highly qualified and also happens to be a woman of color. They recognize that she represents all that is good about DEI, that it isn’t about the granting of privilege but the dismantling of it.

And it was Black women who led the initial charge that has generated so much enthusiasm for Harris; if you win over Black women, you win over the soul of the Democratic Party. Modern Democratic politicians have attempted to tap into that power for decades: John F. Kennedy, for instance, organized “Kennedy Tea” parties for Black women during his Senate re-election campaign, and as his presidential library’s blog notes, he was re-elected in 1958 with nearly 74% of the vote, with greater percentages in many Black precincts.

Enthusiasm is infectious. Now there is enthusiasm throughout the Democratic electorate, and that is only buttressed with Walz as the party’s vice-presidential nominee.

He’s the epitome of a happy warrior; he’s the dad figure, the soldier, the coach and the plain-spoken Everyman. He provides the same thing that Biden offered Barack Obama and Tim Kaine offered Hillary Clinton: He’s an avuncular white man, gray hair and all, who is ready to co-pilot a demographic power shift. Indeed, even last time around, when Biden was at the top of the ticket, choosing Harris as the No. 2 supported the same idea.

The Biden-Harris and Harris-Walz tickets were and are bridges carrying us willingly and cheerfully to a more inclusive future. And for the moment, at least, the relentless positivity of the Harris-Walz campaign has discombobulated Trump and Republicans. Their efforts to paint Harris as a dangerous, scary “San Francisco liberal” have, so far, fallen flat.

They built a campaign premised on running against an old man; now Trump is the oldest candidate. They’ve tried to dismiss Harris as a laughing lightweight; now her laughter is emblematic of the excitement that she’s brought to the campaign trail. Trump chose to run with JD Vance, whose first few weeks in the race have been a total dud; Harris chose Walz, the embodiment of authenticity.

This election will remain a battle royal, but Democrats have discovered that bitterness is not required. The race has been reshaped as a contest between Harris’ high-spiritedness and Trump’s dark vision.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.