Democratic voters want a radical ticket. It's not too late for Harris to give them one.

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When Barack Obama officially announced his campaign for president in 2007, there were many naysayers – Black and white alike – who didn’t think he had a shot at the White House. “America is not ready for a Black president” was the refrain shared time and time again. And, yet, President Obama won the Democratic nomination and two terms in the White House. His presidency did not end racism as we know it, but it proved that national electability is not limited to white men.

Now, Kamala Harris faces the double challenges of racism and sexism in taking on Donald Trump, the greatest possible threat we could have to the rights of women and people of color. We hear constant rumblings that Vice President Harris is not likable, that she rubs people the wrong way – much of the same descriptions we heard about Hillary Clinton. Harris' candidacy is evidence that voters want a New America – not defined by gender or race – but one that really represents all of us at our best.

It's time we think outside of the box that we have allowed to define what makes a winning presidential ticket. The traditional, straight Christian white man as the epitome of American leadership can no longer be the default. While President Obama turned that model on its head in 2008, Harris and her VP pick have the opportunity to dismantle it once and for all.

In the midst of turmoil, Americans tend to take a cautious approach,  but democracy becomes stronger and thrives from radical ideas and actions. Radicalism has pushed this country forward from the days of its founding all the way through a war to end slavery, then labor organizing, women’s right to vote, the civil rights movement and the causes we champion today toward that vision of a more perfect union.

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Voters want a Democratic ticket that's out of the box

To be radical is to often simply be different, to go against the norm, to try ideas whose time has come. And if there was ever a time to think outside the box, with the threats we face in a second Trump presidency, now is that time.

Until this point, many Americans have been disengaged from the presidential election campaign because the two main candidates were elderly white men. With President Biden’s decision to step down, Americans now have the chance to think bigger about who we decide to position as our leaders. We now have the chance to make a so-called radical choice of the people who will influence the course of our country for the next four years. And what could be more radical than a Black and South Asian woman running for president who chooses another woman, another person of color, or a gay male.

Voters want something different, especially Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012.

Harris is attracting young voters: Gen Z is mobilizing for Harris in ways we wouldn't for Biden. The momentum is palpable.

Gen Zers make up more than 40 million eligible voters this year. As usual, young people are way ahead of the rest of the United States. Thankfully, they don’t carry the same level of burden as older voters regarding racism and sexism in America – as many were born into a world with a Black man as president. And as our world becomes more global, they have led the way in taking themselves out of the boxes that America often puts itself in.

If U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Maryland Gov. Wes Moore are polling at the top of the VP list, it is a sign that we don’t have to hold ourselves to the established model of leadership. Let’s be open to new possibilities that reflect the essence of our country and the will of the people. 

We have a chance to reimagine leadership with Harris' VP pick

Just as Obama shattered the mold for our vision of a president, we now have a chance to imagine an entirely new idea of what leaders look like.

The Trump campaign normalized previously unthinkable ideas in the GOP. Republicans rally behind their party and they make it work – no matter how absurd or challenging the prospect.

We can do the same for previously unthinkable ideas – but for ideas that will elevate and unite us, not degrade and divide us.  

Let’s remember VP Harris earned those 81 million votes right alongside Biden during the primaries on the campaign trail. She has been a forceful spokesperson for reproductive freedom, an absolutely pivotal issue in this election. She is the rightful replacement for the president, and she has the experience and expertise needed to be ready on day one.

Furthermore, given the importance of human rights, civil rights and reproductive rights in this election, two nontraditional and exciting candidates at the helm could energize Democrats more than any other ticket as they fight against Trump’s very real threat to the foundations of our democracy.

We have to move beyond the belief that new, nontraditional candidates on the ticket is too big a gamble and that they are not electable. It’s time to transcend sex as the quantifier of our decision-making. We see people from all walks of life lead Fortune 500 companies, run states and congressional districts, organize movements and vote in force for our freedoms, especially reproductive freedoms following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Voters should keep an open mind, think about what’s at risk and meet this moment with radical courage. Nothing could be more American.

LaTosha Brown is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter.