Kamala Harris seeks to crack glass ceiling in US politics as backlash against Trump galvanizes women

WASHINGTON – The force of women in the Democratic Party will be on full display Wednesday when vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris delivers her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.Harris looks to make history as the first woman vice president when the gender divide in U.S. politics has become a chasm that some experts said is building to the biggest voting realignment since Republicans captured the South.The defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and what some saw as misogyny in the race touched off a wave of activism further stoked by the #MeToo movement. “It's kind of like, two years later, the Senate's first reckoning with this shift.”In the Democratic presidential primary, Biden benefited from voters’ concern that a woman might have a harder time beating Trump, said Dittmar, director of research at Rutger’s Center for American Women and Politics.Biden acknowledged his advantage during a town hall in January when he said that although sexism was among the factors that contributed to Clinton’s loss, “that’s not going to happen with me.”Research by the Barbara Lee Family Foundation shows female candidates still have to satisfy gender stereotypes. Advocacy groups warned the media to watch out for sexist coverage, Black women pressed for a Black female nominee and called out anything they viewed as unfair, and Biden said in his announcement of Harris that “we need to have her back.”“The hurdles don’t go away,” Dittmar said, “but maybe there’s greater assistance to these women in pushing them over these hurdles and calling out the folks who try to put those hurdles in the way of their political success.”In another break from the past, Harris – only the third female running mate in history – is the first who wasn’t added as a “Hail Mary,” said Caroline Heldman, co-editor of “Rethinking Madam President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House?”The odds were against Walter Mondale beating Ronald Reagan when he tapped Geraldine Ferraro in 1980.John McCain hoped Sarah Palin would shake up his 2008 race against Barack Obama.Biden, by contrast, is ahead in the polls and called himself a “transition candidate.”“The previous two bids, I would argue, were pretty crass attempts to boost the ticket,” Heldman said.