In interview, Kamala Harris struggles to define what sets her apart from rest of 2020 field

Kamala Harris could not name one policy that separates her from the crowded field of Democratic candidates seeking the presidency in an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night.

When asked by the entertainer what distinguishes her from Democrats calling for the likes of legalized marijuana, reparations for slavery, and Medicare For All, Harris blanked.

“I think one of the distinctions is, um… I have a background in having been a leader and I think that the voters are going to decide who will be the next commander in chief and president of the United States based on experience of leading,” Harris said.

Asked why she’s different, Harris blanks

The Democratic primary has expanded to a packed field of candidates running on similar progressive platforms. Candidates are struggling to distinguish themselves as even the most extreme ideas — from Medicare For All to the Green New Deal — have been embraced by a host of banal competitors. Kimmel acknowledged this obstacle in his interview with Harris.

“There are a lot of people running for the Democratic nomination and you mostly agree on things. Would you say that’s fair?” Kimmel asked.

“I think on a lot of issues, yeah. I think that’s right,” Harris responded.

“So how are you different from — I mean obviously besides from being yourself and your background, but as far as policy goes, as far as a plan goes, how are you different?” Kimmel replied. “Because, for me, what I need to figure out is, ‘Okay, there’s a lot of people here.’ How do you distinguish?”

In her response, Harris appeared to blank and begin rattling off her CV.

“That’s fair… Obviously, it’s going to be a long campaign and all of us will, you know, have opportunities to speak and the voters will learn more and obviously, voters ultimately will make the decision,” Harris said. She went on to tout her “experience of leading,” telling Kimmel:

I have led on a local government level, state government, and now federal government. I was the District Attorney in San Francisco, I was the Attorney General in California, where I led an office of almost 5,000 people, and now obviously in the United States Senate.

Struggling to stand out

As the Democratic field of candidates grows ever more packed and amorphous, candidates are struggling to stand out by staking more extreme positions. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been a trendsetter, pushing hard to make reparations for slavery and abolishing the Electoral College issues for Democrats.

Harris told Kimmel that she’s “open” to abolishing the Electoral College, saying, “There’s no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who’s the president of the United States, and we need to deal with that.”

However, hopping on the Electoral College bandwagon may not help her stand out any more than her current slate of positions, which include Medicare For All, the Green New Deal, cautious support for slavery reparations, and legalized marijuana, all of which have received support from numerous contenders. If she were being honest, Harris might have mentioned legalizing prostitution as a difference.

Despite the difficulty of standing out in a crowded field of uninspiring candidates speaking almost in unison, Harris has pulled ahead of the pack of names struggling to stand out from one another and is generally considered the No. 3 candidate, behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) and former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to announce his candidacy soon.

Speaking with Kimmel, Harris emphasized her experience as a prosecutor, something that has set her apart, although not necessarily in a good way. The California senator has come under criticism for what some call a tough-on-crime record, and she has struggled to cast her career in criminal justice as that of a “progressive prosecutor.”

While playing up her progressive bona-fides, Harris hasn’t shied from playing the mean cop to the fugitive president. Harris promised in so many words that she’s the only one who can lock up the Orange Man, saying the American people want a “fighter” who can “prosecute the case” against Trump.

“People are going to want and look to someone who will be a fighter for the people,” she said. “I also believe that what voters are going to want is they are going to want that there is someone who has the proven ability to prosecute the case against this administration and this president.”