First was President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance on Thursday, June 27, 2024. Then, Donald Trump was nearly assassinated on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Deteriorating polls for the Democratic Party and concerns about Biden’s age eventually led to him stepping aside from the 2024 presidential ticket on Sunday, July 21, 2024, almost immediately endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. On Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Harris announced her running mate, Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz.
Already, polls have shown a dramatic shift towards a Democratic win for the White House compared to when Biden was running. As of Aug. 22, The New York Times reports Harris is ahead in polls by at least a percentage in crucial swing states, such as Wisconsin and Michigan, and is tied with Trump in Pennsylvania. States like Georgia and North Carolina have been brought back from a potential large-margin Trump victory, pivoting towards a toss-up.
As young voters receive a spotlight in this election, many Berkeley High School seniors will be eligible to vote in the upcoming election. Zelda Briand, a BHS senior, said she plans to vote. “I was surprised when Biden dropped out, but I was definitely happy and hopeful that Kamala would have a better chance. I would vote for the Democrats no matter what it was, but it’s exciting that Kamala is from Oakland,” Briand said.
Harris, who was born in Oakland, lived in Berkeley and attended Thousand Oaks Elementary, which is part of the Berkeley Unified School District. According to the Visit Berkeley website, Harris was in the second class of students bussed from different neighborhoods during the process of integrating Berkeley’s schools. Harris’ mother was a cancer researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Amalia Kelterborn, another BHS senior, recently moved to the United States from Germany and made sure to register to vote so she could participate in the upcoming election. Prior to Biden dropping out, Kelterborn was worried about the options. “I was worried about the U.S. in general. I looked at our options basically, and then at the same time the election in Germany was going on. And I was like, damn, these guys are pretty old.”
The question of Biden’s age was a huge factor in what led to the push for him to drop out, and similar concerns remain for Trump, who would be 82 by the end of his second term if he were to win the election.
Kelterborn described the Biden-Trump debate as “two old people fighting against each other” and noted how, now that only Trump remains in the race, it could provide an advantage for Harris. “Now the only elder(ly) person is Trump … his whole debating point was ‘oh yeah, you’re old,’ and now that Biden is gone, and Kamala is not old, I feel like that whole thing is gone,” Kelterborn said.
If Harris wins the election, she will be the first female president of the United States. Ahva Kipfer, who is also a senior at BHS and plans on voting in the election, reflected on the significance of that.
“If she (Harris) became president, it would be in history books. Like, the first female president, I feel like just that is such a statement and such a change,” Kipfer said.
Kipfer said she’s hopeful about the election but feels that the very liberal political climate in Berkeley makes it hard to gauge what the rest of the country looks like regarding who they will vote for.
“I’m in such a bubble in Berkeley where I can’t really see what other people’s ideas are. Here, I’m just watching little clips of the news, like, wow this looks so great, and I see crowds of people cheering Kamala Harris and everything. But I don’t really know what it’s like,” Kipfer said. “It feels like it’s been a while since we had good luck in this country with that sort of thing.”
In California, you must be registered to vote 15 days prior to the election: no later than Monday, October 21, 2024. You can do so at registertovote.ca.gov. As Kelterborn said, “It’s not that hard. It took me literally 10 minutes.”