How Kamala Harris Changes the Race

When all the dust settles on a chaotic few weeks of American politics, this year’s presidential race will look very different than it did before.

But despite the upheaval, there’s a good chance that the new matchup will look strangely familiar, even typical. In fact, it might look much more typical than the old Joe Biden-Donald Trump race.

After all, the Biden-Trump matchup stopped following the usual script long before what proved to be a fateful debate. Here are just a few of the ways that the race will be different now that Vice President Kamala Harris is in it.

Incumbency is usually an asset to a president seeking re-election. For President Biden, incumbency was a burden.

In polls, a majority of voters say they are deeply dissatisfied with the state of the country. They say the political and economic system is broken. In short, they want change.

Mr. Trump is a change candidate. Mr. Biden was not. Not only did he represent the status quo, but he also struggled to communicate a vision for his second term. His campaign to defend democracy and abortion rights was, essentially, an effort to defend the system and America as it was before Mr. Trump. Even Mr. Biden’s 2020 campaign to “restore the soul of the nation” or bring a “return to normalcy” was a promise to return to pre-Trump politics. That may have seemed refreshing to voters amid the chaos of the Trump presidency, but it doesn’t seem to be enough for voters today.