Doctoral Student Affiliate Andrea Peña-Vasquez (political science) co-authored a Washington Post Monkey Cage analysis titled, “Barack Obama and Kamala Harris Both Identify as Black. The News Media Doesn’t Describe Both that Way.” The piece describes research findings that Kamala Harris is more often described as multiracial (Black and Asian) than Barack Obama (Black and White), although both are multiracial.
The article declares that, for whatever reason this occurs, “Harris’s multiracial background may help the Democratic Party broaden the set of groups that the party is perceived to represent.”