Leadership, Love and . . . Laguna Beach?

In the U.S., campaign merchandise can be a very strange thing. Think of the flags with hyper-masculine images of Trump straddling a tank, gun in hand, bald eagle screeching ahead of explosions. Even the more subdued portrayals of political figures - Biden smiling in his aviators, Barack Obama’s resolute look in the ‘Hope’ poster - when purchased and plastered over cars, coffee mugs, t-shirts and beer koozies, can teeter on the edge of an seemingly unhealthy cult of personality. But the merchandise has a way of becoming more than just the cheap bumper sticker—it can be a symbol of the core values of a candidate, what they stand for and what narrative they wish to tell about themself.?

It is no surprise then that much of what’s available for purchase on the Harris-Walz Official Store reflects the core values of Kamala Harris’s historic campaign as the first woman of colour to be nominated for the presidency by a major party. There are tote bags with the slogan ‘History is Watching’, socks that say ‘VOTE’, and mugs emblazoned with the words ‘Reproductive Freedom’.??

But then one item stands out as you scroll through—a grainy photo of a young Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’s husband, looking playful, eyebrows arched in light amusement, stubble on his face, hair wavy. His sky blue t-shirt - imprinted with the words ‘Laguna Beach’ in an effortless, flowing typeface - pops against the golden hour wash of honey-tinged light. The photo is labelled ‘THROWBACK DOUG STICKER 2-PACK’ and you can purchase it for $6.00.?

Unlike the other sticker packs on the website, which show Kamala graduating from Howard University or working late as an attorney, this Doug pack is an outlier. On first pass, it hearkens more to the millennial craze of posting photos to social media of your parents when they were young, attractive and hip than it does to underpinning any ideological narrative of the leading presidential candidate’s campaign.?

But as the first woman of colour to be Vice President and a national party’s Presidential nominee, Kamala is flipping the script on a long and uneventful history of who can access the highest echelons of political power. Long held under the glass ceiling, ambitious women have had to contend with a barrage of unconscionable attacks as their desire for power seemingly threatens emasculation. Even today, as the official nominee unanimously endorsed for the candidacy by a plethora of variously gendered delegates, opposition lines against Harris employ unfounded sexist attacks meant to undermine her seriousness as a political force capable of firmly wielding power.

Society has long been threatened by women’s ambition, especially when it comes to positions of power and control. The presidency, after all, is the ultimate symbol of American authority. And instead of following the ‘strong’ men who claim to have led by a natural instinct capable of bending the world to their will, Harris and her campaign are angling for a new form of political power.

Doug’s throwback photo with its dreamy California sun conveys a romance in the dog days of summer; telegraphing late-night bonfires and cool beers as the waves crash around you and you walk home slightly tipsy. In offering this seemingly out of place image as part of her campaign, Harris is signalling a new form of feminine leadership that openly claims its desire and views intimacy as an asset rather than a liability.