Chris Bohjalian 

Because Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all want to vote for her

Last month, I posted photos of my wife and me in our pro-Kamala T-shirts on my social networks, and instantly a few thousand people stopped following me on Facebook and Instagram. My shirt read, “Kamala: If that’s too hard to pronounce, try Madam President.” My wife’s read, “Cat ladies for Kamala.” Pretty innocuous stuff. 

I couldn’t have cared less that I lost followers, but the idea that cute T-shirts trigger people is an indication of how tribal we’ve become as a nation. 

And yet I come from a family where my father was a blue wall and my mother was red as a ruby, and their marriage was rock solid. I’m old enough to recall how Bill Clinton and Bob Dole got along, despite their political differences. 

And so while there are lots of reasons why I am deeply enthusiastic about Kamala Harris as our next president. Let’s see: She’ll protect a woman’s right to abortion; she won’t tank the economy with tariffs; she has a plan to solve immigration that isn’t mass deportations; she believes in global climate change; she’ll protect the Affordable Care Act; she’ll stand with NATO; she won’t applaud insurrection; and (by the way) she’s not a convicted felon, she’s not a Joseph Goebbels–esque liar, and her brain hasn’t become the dimmest bulb in the tanning bed. There are elements in her character that Democrats, Republicans, and Independents can agree on. 

She’s an adult. She brings joy into every room she enters, not cruelty and hate. She unites, rather than divides. 

I am confident that even my mother, who voted for Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, and George Bush, would be voting blue this year. 

I hope you all will join me.

Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of twenty-five books.