‘Where is Kamala?’: The Disappearing Vice President With No Political Future

Vice President Kamala Harris is nowhere to be found.

Yes, she still lives and works in Washington, DC, and is allegedly part of the Biden administration, but she’s basically absent from every substantive thing associated with the political world.

Back in September of last year, we wrote an article titled, “The Curious Disappearance of Kamala Harris,” and it was one of the most-viewed articles of the year. The question then is apparently the same question now. Where on earth is Vice President Kamala Harris?

Harris’ profile has sunk so low, in fact, that even the once-great #KHive hashtag scene has begun to die. What is the KHive you ask? It’s sort of like the Beyonce Beyhive, but geared toward swarming to defend Kamala Harris instead of the washed-up singer.

In Kamala’s case, the KHive no longer has the motivation or the will to keep defending a washed-up politician according to reports:

To most of those paying attention, Vice President Kamala Harris appears to have hit the skids.

Her approval numbers are lower than President Joe Biden’s, as well as every one of her predecessors at this point in office. Her role has largely been limited to casting tie-breaking votes in the Senate or managing the administration’s stalled work on migration and voting rights—none of which is helping in the polling department. Fellow Democrats have begun openly fretting to each other (and to journalists) that she isn’t ready to lead the party’s national ticket, and at least one poll indicates that if a theoretical open primary were held today, she might command single-digit support.

But while they may not be as rabid as they once were, Harris can still count on the backing of one bastion of supporters: the #KHive.

The KHive of 2022 is not the KHive of 2020 or even 2021 when things were in full swing. Even supporters of Kamala Harris would suffer great pain and agony when trying to name and extol a single accomplishment from her time as Biden’s Vice President.

What has Harris done to advance the Democratic Party agenda in recent years? Not much.

Instead, she’s served as a sideshow of a political amateur hour with poorly delivered speeches, bad interviews, and tasks like dealing with the southern border for which she is clearly not qualified.

The result is a very down and distraught KHive where members think about the glory of what the Kamala Harris vice presidency would have or could have been:

The Daily Beast reached out to more than a dozen high-profile members and former members of the #KHive to see if, after 18 months in office, the vice president has lived up to their hopes. And while most still say that they have her back until the end, some quietly admit that the comedown from the high of a victorious campaign has been harsher than they’d expected—not that they would ever say so publicly.

“I would never, ever say that I regret supporting the first Black woman vice president, ever. But the disappointment is real,” said one self-described former member of the #KHive, who requested to speak anonymously so as not to alienate themselves from friends made through the movement. “I was obsessed with the idea of this person who could undo the systemic, the systematic racism and sexism and heterosexism in government with one fell swoop, and now I’m thinking to myself, did I just make up a person in my head who could do those things?”

The last sentence above is key. Did Harris supporters simply create this person in their heads? Someone who was quick-witted, politically brilliant, cunning with her strategy, and able to handle reporters with one hand tied behind her back.

Kamala Harris is not that person and never has been. Instead, she hails from California, a place where having a “D” next to your name is a free pass to win any election. No skill is required.

Long ago were the days that the KHive was buzzing with excitement over the first black vice president. Now the longing to see Harris simply accomplish something–anything–is what keeps them ticking.

The end result of Kamala Harris’ disappearance from taking any meaningful leadership role in the Biden-Harris administration has meant the destruction and dissolution of the KHive as well.

Remember back when it was Harris being set up to run for Biden’s second term as his successor? Good times for the KHive.

With Biden not claiming and somewhat insisting he’s running for re-election in 2024, Kamala Harris might have many more years looking ahead as being an asterisk vice president rather than a meaningful one. If Biden loses in 2024, she’ll probably be better off.