There was one name that dominated nearly every conversation and every panel at the “MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024” event in Brooklyn on Saturday: Kamala Harris. The vice president’s unexpected entrance into the presidential race — and the renewed sense of unity it has inspired among Democrats — came up like a refrain, and it was the topic that instantly sparked the most enthusiasm in the 2,000-person auditorium.
On Saturday afternoon, MSNBC anchors, experts and 4,000 dedicated viewers took over the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a first-of-its-kind live experience that featured in-depth panels, conversation and analysis about the incredibly high stakes of the upcoming election. And Harris’ historic candidacy was the primary subject of those conversations over the course of two sessions.
“One of the things that’s happened in the last five, six weeks is America has figured out how much Harris was underestimated,” Claire McCaskill told the crowd to roaring applause.
“[Harris] really stepped into this moment in a way a lot of people failed to anticipate,” Joy Reid said during a discussion later with fellow anchor Alex Wagner.
But it wasn’t just the element of surprise that has helped Harris re-ignite the Democratic Party. “Harris’ candidacy represents an affirmation that the path Obama opened for the country might actually be its destiny,” Wagner argued. “It’s not just a Democrat might save the country from Donald Trump. It’s a Democrat who could meaningfully move the ball forward and finally shatter that last glass ceiling.”
The audience’s enthusiasm for Harris was heightened by a collective anticipation for the biggest test of the vice president’s abbreviated campaign to date: her first faceoff with former President Donald Trump at Tuesday’s presidential debate. “Is Kamala Harris freaking out?” Jen Psaki asked McCaskill and longtime debate moderator Andrea Mitchell in an onstage “editorial meeting” about how Harris ought to prepare. “She’s focused,” McCaskill suggested, “and then I think she’s also [most likely] giving a little thought to how she can bug him.”
But the question of how much the debate might affect the course of the race was more in dispute. “We just had the most consequential debate in American history. A debate the first five minutes of which not only ended [Joe Biden’s candidacy] but changed, just a month before the convention, the terms of the general election," Rachel Maddow said before she asked Lawrence O’Donnell. “Is this next debate likely to also be very consequential?"
“It’s unbelievably difficult to reach these undecided voters with these kinds of activities," O’Donnell said. “I don’t think it has the ability to shift much."
The upcoming debate is only one of many unknown factors at play at this stage of the race. Despite poll numbers that Steve Kornacki agreed should make Democrats happy, the overall picture “is one of exceedingly close, narrow margins,” he explained.
Another unknown factor remains the future of the Republican Party after the election. Asked by an audience member whether Harris’ victory could finally dismantle the MAGA movement, McCaskill drew on her own experience. “I won an election by 15 points in 2012 and lost by 6 in 2018 to a guy who was hugging Trump,” recalled the former Democratic senator from Missouri. “What happened? Well, the mainlining of grievance … and I’m not sure if that goes away.”
“There’s a number of House and Senate members that think they’re going to be the next Donald Trump,” McCaskill continued, pointing to Sens. Josh Hawley and JD Vance as examples. “It remains to be seen whether this cult of personality is transferable.”
Kornacki also shared his view of the harmful costs of Trump’s enduring presence in national politics. “Do you see us as terminally polarized, terminally red and blue?” Katy Tur asked Kornacki.
He admitted it’s a question he’s been asked a lot. “Pessimistically, I think there’s a very tribal impulse in all of us,” he said. “But I have one optimistic note, that is maybe … maybe all of us, collectively, just get sick of it.”
Wrapping up the day, Maddow and O’Donnell took a moment to acknowledge the challenges and opportunities of covering such a historic election at MSNBC. “I value the editorial freedom that we’ve got,” Maddow said. “That is a blessing and something worth protecting and fighting for. It’s the art of what we do and not the science — and I love it.”