It was The Washington Post this week that reminded us of the handful of words, uttered by Kamala Harris, that told us everything we needed to know about the Democratic presidential candidate.

“Can you think of any laws,’’ she asked Supreme Court Justice Brett M Kavanaugh in 2018, “that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?’’

Harris was a senator from California and was grilling Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearing.

He was not keen to make public his view on Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling in the US that granted the right to have an abortion.

“I’m am not thinking of any right now,’’ he eventually responded to Harris’s pointed prosecutorial request.

It was four years after Harris uttered those 19 words – in June 2022 – that Kavanaugh joined with others on the Supreme Court to repeal that 1973 decision, ending the constitutional right to abortion. And since then, states have taken over abortion laws, with some restricting access and others banning terminations.

Core issue

Although abortion is legal in Australia and rarely plays a divisive role in modern public debate, it continues to be at the epicentre of US public discourse in the same way it has for six decades.

And this election race will only magnify that, with Democrats believing it could be the single issue that delivers the party a significant increase in support.

Certainly, it is one of those issues where a clear and wide delineation exists between the parties, and their presidential candidates.

The rights of a woman over her own body raced away under Donald Trump’s presidency. And Kamala Harris has made it the top of her to-do list, to bring them back.

And she’s in a strong fighting position.

Voter turnout increases

Polls in some states, since that the Supreme Court repeal in 2022, have shown the issue has delivered increased voter turnouts.

Most Americans, in any national survey, also support a woman’s right to choose. And Kamala Harris arguing for it has a better ring to it than Joe Biden.

That’s why at her first rallies this week she raised the issue – and vowed to restore women’s reproductive freedoms.

That strong and immediate focus presents Donald Trump, the self-described ‘most pro-life president’ ever (until at least he saw the issue’s impact in the midterms), with a formidable problem with many women voters. Some of those are within his own party.

And that might even become a bigger problem, when you consider the sassy campaign Harris is now waging online, and which is enveloping younger voters, particularly on TikTok, at a greater speed than free pizza at a footy match.

TikTok influence

This is where Kamala Harris looks 49 years younger, rather than 19 years younger, than her opponent. Or as she’s being tagged, Gen Z’s ‘brat’ summer icon.

Donald Trump will need to really understand the meaning of ‘brat’, but in short it’s a young person’s term for being cheeky and spontaneous and even in your face.

After President Biden signalled he was quitting the race, Harris’ campaign was launched almost immediately with a lime green banner on social media, signalling the online home of ‘Kamala hq’.

Harris has been popular with TikTok users whose Kamala memes – like those using her coconut tree quote – routinely went viral, but this launch was styled on Charli XCX’s most recent album Brat.

And the pop star responded with haste, declaring “Kamala IS brat’’.

For older voters, or those not caught up in the viral TikTok world, it might not mean a lot. But it might be different at the polling booth in November.

Generational change

It points to a big new audience; the tag #kamalaharris has been trending all week on TikTok, with more than 101 million views in seven days.

But it also points to the age difference between the savvy 59-year-old, who will turn 60 in October, and 78-year-old Trump.

All of a sudden it’s not the Democrat leader who looks a bit old for the Oval Office.

They say a week is a long time in politics, and we have months until polling day.

But Harris’ clinical approach, evidenced back in 2018 in that 19-word question she asked Supreme Court Justice Brett M Kavanaugh, is now being used to advocate for American women, and young voters in a way we have never seen before.

And if that doesn’t trump her competitor, it will certainly make for an interesting race.

This was originally published by InQueensland.