HOUSTON – Vice President Kamala Harris is making a significant visit to Houston on Friday. It’s a trip that underscores several critical political dynamics and strategies as election day nears.
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We reached out to University of Houston History Professor Nancy Beck Young to talk about why this stop — so close to election day — is important. Full disclosure: Dr. Young plans to attend the rally.
Dr. Young boiled the Harris visit down to four key reasons:
Internal polling
I want to know what her internals are saying and what [Colin] Allred’s internals are saying, because I don’t think you make a play for 2028 or 2032 just on hope. I think that there has to be something on their internal polling that is suggesting go to Texas, not go to Florida, because there’s also an active Senate race in Florida and a state that is projected to be red. So why is she coming here and not there? So you know, we’re not going to know what the internals say until after the election is decided. And then we’re only going to know what we’re told about the internals. And that’s true for any campaign, that’s not unique to Vice President Harris. That’s just how polling works and how candidates guard their internal numbers.
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Boost support for Colin Allred
The Senate race, — Colin Allred vs Ted Cruz — which has tightened significantly.
Highlighting Abortion Rights
So if you go back and think about it, Roe v Wade came out of Texas, right? Sarah Weddington was a very young lawyer who took Norma McCorvey case titled as Roe, because it was brought anonymously and it’s a class action suit. And that came out of Dallas in the early 1970s, leading to the 1973 decision that has since been overturned by Dobbs. So I think that’s a bit of political poetry here with her coming to Texas. But I think it is also highlighting just the horror of what this has meant for women’s health care and the health care of people capable of becoming pregnant. So it just has been a nightmare for anyone, whether they are someone who wishes not to be pregnant and finds themselves pregnant or someone who very much wishes to be pregnant and finds themselves with a tragic diagnosis. And everything in between cases of rape and incest. So I think that she is going to make a really strong argument about how this really should not be a partisan issue because these problems happen to people regardless of party identity. And so I think that is going to be what we are going to hear from her on this issue.
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The Future of Texas Politics
I think this is about the future of Texas politics and the possibility of Texas moving toward the center and becoming purple in more parts of the state. So Harris County, Dallas County, Travis County, Bexar County, El Paso, already pretty reliably vote for Democrats in presidential elections and statewide races. But to make Texas competitive, which is the dream of Democrats, would really require bringing suburban counties into the mix and smaller urban counties into the mix. So this could be a long play.
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We also asked Dr. Young about the star power at Friday’s rally and what she makes of that:
So Beyonce has already made it obvious that she is supporting Harris and Harris plays Beyonce music for her walkout at her rallies. So, you know, Beyonce is already in that way a part of the campaign. But I think that this would be the first time that Beyonce has appeared at a Harris rally. Megan Thee Stallion has already played at Harris rallies, Eminem was at a Harris rally and Obama was rapping Eminem lyrics earlier this week. And other entertainers have been on the trail for Harris. But having Queen Bee there is a big deal. And in Beyonce’s hometown, that’s something that should be lost on no one. So that brings me back to what’s going on in the internals. You know, is Texas closer than anyone thought? And is there some sort of two-way synergy going on between the Harris campaign and the Allred campaign and the possibility for both of their success at the ballot box in just a bit.
Is star power an effective strategy in the closing message for presidential campaigns?
I think it’s a big part of it. And I think there’s some shade being thrown back and forth between the two campaigns, right? Because we have the, OK I’ll go ahead and say it, the really, really weird Trump town hall, what about a week or so ago where he just quit answering questions 20, 30 minutes in and just jammed to the tunes for 38, 39 minutes, which that’s just never been a thing before. And if you’ll recall, Obama in his stump speech immediately after that said, you know, what would they say in the press if Kamala did that or I did that or any Democrat did that, they’d really go to town on us? And then he said, but if we did do it, we would have better music. And that’s the shade-throwing part that I meant. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Village People and or any of the rest of the music that was played at the Trump rally. The other thing that’s interesting about the musical artists played at the Trump rally is how many of them have cease and desist lawsuits against Trump -- quit playing our music because we don’t endorse your political values. So that’s another way in which the popular culture is in conflict over this presidential election.
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Rally expectations
So I’m anticipating a really excited, enthusiastic crowd. I’m expecting the two candidates on stage to be very pumped up along with whatever locals are up there with them. I’m hoping that Beyonce actually sings one song for us and is not just talking from the stage. I am expecting that the abortion issue will be discussed for sure. And I think there’s going to be a heavy get-out-the-vote encouragement. I suspect that Harris’s speech will be pretty much her stump speech. She might try out some of what she’s going to say at her speech next week on the Ellipse in D.C. or she might, you know, try some of what are going to be her closing arguments. And she might not, she might stick with what she has been saying on the trail ever since she went on the trail. But, yeah, I suspect it will be a very energized crowd.
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