Groups release ‘Black Values Survey’ with in-depth look at African-Americans in swing states

By Ken Coleman

Three nonprofits earlier this month released findings of a study that analyzes segments or values clusters within the Black community in three swing states that goes deeper than typical demographics.

The research in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania was not conducted in support of any candidate.

Results of a national, four-year project to study the Black electorate show that while almost half (41%) of Black people believe in their collective power to drive change, another 22% are deeply cynical about politics and elections, and 18% are susceptible to this growing disillusionment because they are often overlooked by the political industry.

The Deciders: The issues and states that will determine who wins the White House

 By Kevin Hardy

In a wild election season, these 7 states — with disparate identities and spanning the nation — will decide our next president.

It’s been a wild few months in the presidential race: President Joe Biden dropped out and Vice President Kamala Harris captured the Democratic nomination. Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and was targeted again at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Despite the historic lead-up to Election Day, the race has now settled into familiar territory: Much like 2020’s contest, top political strategists on both sides of the aisle expect control of the White House could come down to just a few thousand votes in a handful of battleground states.

Inflation has slowed, but the economy remains a big issue for voters in picking a president

 By Casey Quinlan

Inflation hit a three-year low last month, just as the presidential election is heating up.

But the high cost of housing and other necessities will keep the economy central to both of the major campaigns, as seen this week in the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

The Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation, rose 2.5% in the past year, which is the smallest jump since February 2021, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Wednesday. The main driver of this increase was shelter, which moved up 0.5% in August. Airline fares, car insurance, education, and apparel also rose that month. But wages also rose 0.4% in August and 3.8% over the past year, and the average workweek increased by 0.1 hour — welcome news for workers trying to keep up with the cost of living.

Trump promotes raising tariffs, corporate tax cut in battle over economy with Harris

By Jacob Fischler and Ashley Murray

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he would protect American industries if he is reelected by increasing tariffs on imports while cutting other taxes and regulations, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York.

The GOP presidential candidate’s remarks came as the economy has taken center stage in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Both Trump and the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, have criticized a ballooning national deficit, high housing costs and increasingly expensive groceries

Harris to roll out new plan on tax relief for small businesses

By Ashley Murray

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce economic policy proposals aimed at helping small businesses during a campaign speech Wednesday in New Hampshire.

The Democratic presidential candidate will stump in Portsmouth for expanding the tax deduction to $50,000 on business start-up costs, up from $5,000, a campaign official said on background Tuesday. Harris will also propose a standard deduction for businesses as a way to simplify tax filing for entrepreneurs.

'No,' Kamala Harris Says to Withholding Arms From Israel

By Jake Johnson

"Harris is saying she will reject 77% of Democrats, 61% of Americans, international law, domestic U.S. law, and basic humanity to continue the flow of weapons to Israel while it stands accused of genocide," said one analyst.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said in a CNN interview that aired late Thursday that, if elected in November, she would not change the Biden administration's policy of steadfast military support for Israel, rejecting widespread calls for an arms embargo to help bring about an end to the devastating assault on Gaza.

Kamala Harris accepts nomination from Democratic Party National Convention

By Natalia Marques

On Thursday night, on the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, incumbent US Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency, confirming her and running mate Tim Walz as the Party’s ticket for November. 

‘Hope is making a comeback’: The Obamas make the case for Kamala Harris

 By Jacob Fischler

CHICAGO — As he did in his first speech to a Democratic National Convention 20 years ago, former President Barack Obama emphasized the connections binding Americans together and called for a more positive national atmosphere on the second night of this year’s convention Tuesday, while rallying Democrats to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Some California Democrats want an arms embargo on Israel. How far will they push Kamala Harris?

By Sameea Kamal

In summary

The Gaza war has divided California Democrats for months. Now, some of them are pushing the national party at the Chicago convention to support an arms embargo on Israel.

CHICAGO — What will Kamala Harris do about the Gaza war if she’s elected president? To some Californians watching, the best indicator might be what she’s doing now.

The vice president seemed to take a stronger stance against Israel’s military response since Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 — calling for a ceasefire before President Joe Biden did and skipped Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress in July. After meeting him, said she pressed him for a ceasefire and pledged not to stay silent about the humanitarian crisis.

Thousands Kick Off DNC With Protest in Chicago Over Gaza

By Julia Conley 

"For Palestinian Americans, this is a fundamental issue," said one marcher.

What's expected to be the biggest protest march during this week's Democratic National Convention kicked off in Chicago Monday afternoon, with demonstrators demanding that Vice President Kamala Harris support an end to unconditional U.S. military support for Israel amid its assault on Gaza, now in its tenth month.

Thousands gathered in Union Park before beginning their march to the United Center, where the convention is taking place.

Protesters carried signs and banners reading, "End State Violence From Chicago to Gaza" and "Dems' Silence = Israel's Violence."

Organizers—who hoped to see 15,000 people in the streets—have expressed alarm in recent months over the Chicago Police Department's aggressive response to pro-Palestinian protests, with a legal coalition last week expressing concern about Police Superintendent Larry Snelling's intimidating comments about arresting protesters and other issues, and city officials have clashed with organizers about the route the march will take.

But threats of arrest did not deter groups including Jewish Voice for Peace from joining the march, with the local chapter saying its members would "make clear our commitment to freedom and safety for all people, from Chicago to Gaza" and as they demanded an "arms embargo now."

Organizers of the Uncommitted movement, which emerged during the Democratic primary season to pressure President Joe Biden to end his support for Israel's assault on Gaza, continue to press the Harris-Walz campaign to break with the administration's position.

While Harris initially indicated to the group a willingness to discuss support for an arms embargo earlier this month, a top adviser for the Democratic nominee said soon after that the vice president does not support ending weapons transfers to Israel.

"For Palestinian Americans, this is a fundamental issue," sociologist Eman Abdelhadi told Democracy Now! at the march. "We have spent 10 months watching our people die every day, and to ask us to simply just wait and hope that some change will happen... It's just offensive and it's completely insensitive."

As the protesters assembled on Monday, journalist Mehdi Hasan warned in a column in The Guardian that Harris should see agreeing to the demand for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an arms embargo not as a risk, but as "a moral, geopolitical, and—for the Democrats—electoral no-brainer."

"Biden may want to continue sending more and more weapons to an Israeli government accused of war crimes at the international criminal court and of genocide at the international court of justice," wrote Hasan, "but Harris should take a different stance—a bolder stance, a stance that is more in line with her party's base, as well as with the American public at large."

This article originally appeared in Common Dreams on August 20th, 2024

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Move over, presidential race. These state governments also are up for grabs.

By Kevin Hardy 

Thousands of state lawmakers are on the ballot, and control of some statehouses hangs in the balance.

The presidential race gets the hype, but the nearly 6,000 state legislative races across the country in November’s elections could reshape power dynamics in some states.

While Republicans are primed to maintain their national advantage in statehouse control, several legislative chambers could flip, said Ben Williams, associate director of elections and redistricting at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Harris unveils plan to curb price gouging, boost child tax credit, tackle rent hikes

By Jennifer Schutt 

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris released her first detailed economic policy proposal Friday, laying out how she’d like to ease rent increases, boost first-time home buyers, end grocery price gouging and bolster the child tax credit.

The Harris campaign’s announcement said the proposals, most of which would need approval from Congress, would “address some of the sharpest pain points American families are confronting and bolster their financial security.”

“Vice President Harris has made clear that building up the middle class will be a defining goal of her presidency,” the announcement stated. “She will deliver for Americans who are demanding a new way forward towards a future that lifts up all Americans so that they can not just get by, but get ahead.”

Harris will campaign later Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina, ahead of the Democratic National Convention beginning Monday, as both campaigns focus on a handful of swing states.

The economic plank of her plan seeks to curb the expenses that often come with building a family by expanding the child tax credit to the $3,600 per child that existed under the COVID-19 spending law that Democrats approved during the first months of the Biden administration. That provision has since expired.

Harris proposes increasing that credit to $6,000 for families that have children under a year old.

The maximum child tax credit is currently $2,000 per qualifying child for an individual making less than $200,000 annually or a couple filing jointly that makes less than $400,000.

There are several qualifications to receive a child tax credit, including that the child was under the age of 17 at the end of the year and that they are a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or U.S. resident alien.

The Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, would expand “to cover individuals and couples in lower-income jobs who aren’t raising a child in their home, cutting their taxes by up to $1,500,” according to the announcement.

Harris also pledged that no one making less than $400,000 annually would see an increase in new taxes, matching a promise that President Joe Biden has made throughout his time in the Oval Office.

Grocery price gouging

The proposal says that if elected, Harris would seek Congress’ passage of a law to implement a ban on price gouging on groceries and other food as well as establish “rules of the road” that would bar companies from “excessive profits on food and groceries.”

Rising prices on groceries have been a major pain point for consumers, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday made the case that prices are too high for American families, laying the blame for inflation at the feet of the Biden-Harris administration and insisting he’s the only person able to get prices back down.

To implement her grocery gouging plan, Harris proposes providing the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general with new authority to “impose strict new penalties” on companies that price gouge.

“Many big grocery chains that have seen production costs level off have nevertheless kept prices high and have seen their highest profits in two decades,” the proposal states. “While some food companies have passed along these savings, others still have not.”

“Price fluctuations are normal in free markets, but Vice President Harris recognizes there is a big difference between fair pricing and the excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business that Americans have seen in the food and grocery industry,” it says.

A Harris administration would also address “unfair mergers and acquisitions” that can contribute to higher prices on food and groceries, the Harris plan says.

Expansion of drug pricing controls

Harris hopes to expand a price ceiling for insulin that Democrats established in their signature climate change, health care and tax package known as the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA.

That section of the law, which only applies to Medicare, caps the price of insulin per month at $35. Harris’ proposal looks to expand that to “everyone” while setting the maximum out-of-pocket cost for other prescriptions at $2,000.

The plan would increase the pace that Medicare is allowed to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.

“Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will also work with states to cancel medical debt for millions of Americans and to help them avoid accumulating such debt in the future, because no one should go bankrupt just because they had the misfortune of becoming sick or hurt,” according to the proposal.

Boosting home building

The economic plan released Friday includes numerous changes that could ease the increasing costs of renting and purchasing a home for the first time.

Harris would seek to bolster home building throughout the country by 3 million units during the next four years by taking “down barriers that stand in the way of building new housing, including at the state and local levels.”

A Harris-Walz administration would call on Congress to create a tax incentive for construction companies that build “starter homes” that would then be sold to first-time home buyers.

The announcement says the new tax incentive would “complement the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit that encourages investment in homes that would otherwise be too costly or difficult to develop or rehabilitate.”

Harris’ proposal calls for up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time home buyers who have paid rent on time for at least two years.

The proposal says that if implemented, the down payment financial aid would go out to more than 4 million people over four years.

Harris also pressed lawmakers to address the rising cost of rent by approving two bills that have been introduced in Congress, but haven’t gained any ground.

One bill would reduce the incentive for large firms to buy more than 50 single-family rental homes. The legislation would bar those companies “from deducting interest or depreciation on those properties,” according to a summary of the measure.

The second rental proposal asks Congress to approve a bill that would “crack down on companies that help landlords increase rents in already high-priced markets,” according to a summary.

“Vice President Harris knows that our nation’s housing affordability crisis is making it hard for tens of millions of Americans to make ends meet while putting the American Dream of homeownership out of reach for too many working families,” the proposal states. “That’s why she will launch an urgent and comprehensive four-year plan to lower housing costs for working families and end America’s housing shortage.”

The Harris-Walz campaign is holding hold a bus tour in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area on Sunday, just ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

Harris; her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; second gentleman Doug Emhoff; and first lady of Minnesota Gwen Walz will all participate in the tour of Allegheny and Beaver counties.

This article originally appeared in Pennsylvania Capital-Star on August 16th, 2024

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With Harris on the ballot, Democrats work to build momentum for bigger youth vote

 By Shauneen Miranda

WASHINGTON —  Democratic and left-leaning youth organizing groups have seized on a new opportunity to rally younger voters now that Vice President Kamala Harris is their party’s presidential nominee.

Young adult voters — including millions of Gen Zers — could be pivotal in determining the outcome of the race in which the 59-year-old Democrat vies for the Oval Office against former President Donald Trump, 78, the GOP presidential nominee. Members of Gen Z eligible to vote are 18 to 27 years old this year.

These groups say young voters are excited to possibly elect someone who more closely represents their demographics, as Harris would be the first woman to serve as president, the second Black president and the first president of South Asian descent. About 45% of the Gen Z generation eligible to vote are young people of color, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

Democrats nominated Harris after President Joe Biden, 81, gave up his reelection bid following a disastrous performance in a June 27 debate and intense pressure on him to drop out.

The organizing groups are also highlighting Harris’ connection with young people on issues that have historically been important to this demographic, such as protecting reproductive rights and climate action.

Battleground states

With less than three months to go until Election Day, these groups are in full swing as they target battleground states in which the presidential contest has historically been particularly close and utilize their state and local chapters for youth voter outreach.

Kati Durkin, western vice president of Young Democrats of America, said they have a “pretty targeted campaign plan” that narrows in on traditional swing states — such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin— to reach out to YDA members in those states and help members contact their peers.

“We’re really looking at: How do we mobilize the young vote using our network of chartered units across the country? So how do we get in there and go tell folks on a college campus in Nevada, ‘Hey, here’s how you register to vote, here’s why voting is so important and here’s why we’re really excited about Vice President Harris’?”

YDA, directly affiliated with the Democratic Party, is the largest youth-led, partisan political organization in the country and has over 20,000 members across all 50 states.

Durkin said the group makes sure that “as our folks on the ground are doing the work, we are bringing in the people from the Washingtons and the New Yorks of the country and getting them to help make calls in a state like Nevada, but also making sure that, as the DNC does youth-targeted outreach, we’re bringing our members to that, we’re helping with that infrastructure.”

Similarly, College Democrats of America — the official collegiate arm of the Democratic National Committee — communicates with its local chapters that are working on the ground in their respective areas to get out the vote.

“We’ve seen a lot of local organizations really do a lot of heavy lifting, especially in districts that might be historically red, to get the youth vote out, make sure that people on their campuses or in their states are actively registered to vote (and) are excited about voting,” Gia Iyer, deputy communications director for CDA, told States Newsroom.

CDA is also collaborating with other youth organizations to get their messaging spread beyond the confines of who their individual accounts follow on social media.

“It’s a lot of just outreach and making sure that we can get as many young people to be excited about this election,” Iyer said.

Youth and advocacy groups unite behind Harris

Shortly after Harris announced her intent to win the Democratic nomination, a coalition of youth organizing groups, including YDA and CDA, endorsed Harris.

“As a champion of reproductive freedom, climate action, economic justice, and gun violence prevention, Vice President Harris is uniquely equipped to build a coalition of young voters who will lead her to victory,” 17 youth and advocacy groups said in a late July statement.

The organizations highlighted Harris’ historic presidency if elected, as she would be the “first woman, first Asian American, and second Black president.”

“As members of the most diverse generation in our nation’s history, a Kamala Harris presidency would be one in which we see ourselves,” the coalition said.

Volunteer sign-ups

Voters of Tomorrow — one of those 17 organizing groups backing Harris — had more people apply to join its chapter network and more volunteer sign-ups in the three days after Harris’ announcement than it did in the two months prior.

The left-leaning organization aims to increase youth voter turnout and has a chapter network across more than 20 states.

Part of the group’s key efforts, according to deputy press secretary Jessica Siles, include running an organizing boot camp to train young people and having weekly text banks and phone banks.

Siles said the group’s chapter network “will also be organizing on different college campuses, whether that’s voter registration drives or town halls with local candidates, just trying to meet young people where they’re at, whether that’s on a campus or online, and trying to get them the resources they need to protect our future.”

Recent polling shows Harris holding a lead over Trump, particularly among young voters. In a Morning Consult poll conducted Aug. 9-11, 48% of voters ages 18-34 say they would choose Harris, compared to 41% who would pick Trump.

Durkin of YDA said “not only is (Harris) the right candidate for the job, but she has generated so much excitement. I have not seen it in years, I mean just this morning, my friend was texting me: ‘Is this what hope feels like?’”

Harris is “somebody that has put her effort, historically, into backing up her values, which are our values, and showing up for young people, and I think that is a lot of what’s generating this excitement,” Durkin added.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom Harris tapped to be her running mate, has also generated enthusiasm from young voters.

Iyer of CDA said Harris is “really catering to a younger, more progressive audience, which is great,” adding that “Walz, himself, is an incredible governor who’s done great things for people across his state, and it’s just a really great combination to see someone who actually is advocating for issues that matter to young Democrats, like the members of CDA.”

Uncommitted voters

Though Harris is gaining momentum among young voters, pro-Palestinian organizers are putting pressure on both the Biden administration and Harris, as she campaigns for the presidency, to enact an arms embargo on Israel. It’s not yet clear how much of an effect opposition to the Israel-Hamas war may have on turnout among young Democrats.

The “Not Another Bomb” national campaign is the latest initiative from the Uncommitted National Movement, where a wide swath of organizers, including young and progressive voters, have protested Biden’s policies regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

Organizers are urging Harris to “shift away from President Biden’s disastrous policy on Gaza,” saying a “call for a ceasefire and arms embargo is a moral and human imperative.”

Activists are also holding a “Not Another Bomb Day of Action,” with rallies across the country during the weekend leading up to the Democratic National Convention.

This article originally appeared in Michigan Advance on August 5th, 2024

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Cori Bush Loses Reelection Bid to Democrat Backed by $8.5 Million From AIPAC

 By Jake Johnson

"Tonight's results should be a warning sign to anyone who cares about our democracy," said one advocacy group.

Rep. Cori Bush lost her reelection bid in Missouri's 1st Congressional District on Tuesday to a Democratic primary candidate backed by a massive influx of spending from AIPAC, which targeted the progressive incumbent over her early calls for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Wesley Bell, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, enjoyed a huge cash advantage over Bush, with nearly two-thirds of his campaign money coming from fundraising efforts by AIPAC's super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP).

UDP, which has been bankrolled by ultra-wealthy Republicans, spent around $8.5 million to oust Bush, the second Squad member to lose to an AIPAC-backed primary opponent this election cycle. AIPAC pledged earlier this year to spend $100 million attacking progressive candidates, and the organization has thus far been the largest source of Republican money flowing into competitive Democratic primaries this year.

The Intercept's Akela Lacy reported that in Tuesday's race, AIPAC's money was spent "on voter engagement efforts and phone banking in addition to digital and mail ads."

"One of the mailers, first reported by The Intercept, included images that distorted Bush's features," Lacy added.

Bell, who also raised money directly from Republican billionaires and previously served as campaign manager for a GOP candidate, narrowly defeated Bush, winning 51.2% of the vote compared to the incumbent's 45.6%—a margin of fewer than 7,000 votes.

In a fiery speech to supporters following her defeat, Bush said that by "pulling me away from my position as congresswoman, all you did was take some of the strings off."

Bush, who was elected to the House in 2020, went on to directly address AIPAC's role in what became one of the most expensive congressional primaries in U.S. history.

"AIPAC, I'm coming to tear your kingdom down," said Bush. "And let me put all of these corporations on notice: I'm coming after you too. But I'm not coming by myself. I'm coming with all the people that's in here, that's doing the work."

Justice Democrats, a progressive organization that helped propel Bush to victory in 2020 and backed her reelection bid, said following Tuesday's contest that "no matter what a singular super PAC can spend to try and buy an election, nothing can take away from the transformational effect Cori Bush has directly had on the people of St. Louis."

"That power—of everyday people to transform what we can expect from our political system—is such a threat to right-wing power, corporate interests, and AIPAC's influence, that a coalition of GOP-funded Super PACs had to spend over $12 million to even have a chance at defeating it," the group said in a statement posted to social media. "As AIPAC's influence in Congress wanes and the right-wing network propping it up is exposed, AIPAC has to spend historic amounts to continue advancing their interests at the expense of the Democratic mainstream that overwhelmingly supports a ceasefire and an end to genocide in Gaza."

Bush was one of the original sponsors of a congressional resolution calling for an end to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, which has dragged on for 10 months and left nearly 40,000 Palestinians dead, according to official tallies that are likely a vast undercount given the number of people missing under ruins and in mass graves.

"We can't bomb our way to peace, equality, and freedom," Bush said as she introduced the resolution alongside her progressive House colleagues on October 16. "With thousands of lives lost and millions more at stake, we need a cease-fire now."

"Cori Bush had the moral courage to speak out against her constituents' taxpayer dollars funding war crimes in Gaza."

Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, said Tuesday that "without the deluge of misleading advertisements" attacking Bush, she "would be headed to Congress for another term next year."

"Tonight's results should be a warning sign to anyone who cares about our democracy," said Shiney-Ajay. "If Democratic Party leaders don't stand against AIPAC and right-wing billionaires, they undermine our democracy and risk disillusioning the young voters and voters of color we need to defeat the far-right."

Our Revolution executive director Joseph Geevarghese echoed that message, saying in a statement that "tonight's outcome puts the blatantly undemocratic nature of Democratic Party primaries on full display."

"Cori Bush had the moral courage to speak out against her constituents' taxpayer dollars funding war crimes in Gaza. As a result, AIPAC and its MAGA Republican-funded super PAC spent more than $8.4 million to buy her congressional seat," said Geevarghese.

"Democratic Party elites have spent years decrying Trump as an existential threat to democracy," he added, "yet they are resoundingly silent when wealthy conservative donors unseat a true working-class champion who was among the first federal lawmakers to endorse Kamala Harris in her historic candidacy for president."

This article originally appeared in Common Dreams on July 25th, 2024

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With Biden out, Kamala Harris becomes the new Democratic Party choice for President

By Natalia Marques

The Democratic Party seeks to distance itself from the unpopular presidency of Joe Biden with his withdrawal from the upcoming elections, but does Harris really represent a significant change?

On Sunday, following nationwide pressure and pressure from within top leaders of his own party, Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race. 

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said in a statement. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Later on in the day, Biden endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, as the nominee from the Democratic Party. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” Biden said in a post on X. “And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats—it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

The beginning of the end for Biden was marked by a humiliating debate performance against the Republican Party choice for president, former President Donald Trump, on June 27. President Biden’s slurred words and nonsensical responses called his fitness for office into question. Biden continued to produce embarrassing political gaffes at the NATO Summit earlier in July, when he called Ukrainian President Zelenksy “President Putin” and called Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” at a press conference. 

Biden’s fate was further cemented after the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally. Trump’s reaction to the attempted assassination, in which he pumped his fist and shouted “Fight, fight, fight!” was a sharp contrast to Biden’s frailty. 

Polls showed that the vast majority of Democratic voters wanted Biden to drop out. For the Democratic Party establishment, Kamala Harris is shaping up to be the most logical second choice—a younger, more diverse option who in many ways, is just as conservative as the candidate she is replacing. 

Who is Kamala Harris?

Harris’ career in the upper echelons of the California criminal justice system is one of further entrenching the state’s reputation as one of the worst in terms of mass incarceration. According to the Prison Policy Institute, California’s incarceration rate of 494 per 100,000 people means that the state “locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democratic country on earth.”

As California’s Attorney General, Harris personally championed a harsh statewide truancy law that enabled highly punitive measures against parents whose children were not attending school. This law sought to make an example out of parents, who were often working people whose children could not attend school due to a variety of circumstances. These included a mother, Cheree Peoples, of Orange County, arrested and walked out of her home in her pajamas in front of cameras, whose daughter could not attend school regularly due to sickle cell anemia.

Also in her time as California’s Attorney General, Harris spent years defying a Supreme Court ruling to decarcerate the state, a defiance she undertook for one of the most nefarious reasons possible—to maintain the adequate levels of cheap and forced prison labor. California as a state is plagued by wildfires, and forces its massive population of prisoners to take on dangerous jobs on the frontlines of fighting these fires. When Harris was running for President, a memo emerged from 2014 in which lawyers from her office argued that nonviolent prisoners needed to stay in prison because their freedom would “would severely impact fire camp participation.” This would be “a dangerous outcome while California is in the middle of a difficult fire season and severe drought,” Harris’ lawyers argued. 

Her record as Vice President proved to be a continuation of her deep conservatism. Not only has she been a fierce supporter of Israel for her entire political career, but she has been just as complicit as “Genocide Joe” Biden in continuing the US’ policy of unconditional arming and funding of Israel as it carries out genocide in Gaza. She has also been a hardliner on immigration, famously telling Guatemalan asylum seekers “do not come,” warning migrants that they would be turned away at the border.

A headline from the Wall Street Journal from 2020, when Kamala joined Biden’s presidential campaign reads “As Harris Joins Biden Ticket, Wall Street Exhales in Relief.” Her key supporters throughout her political career have indeed been the rich and powerful, with the “social and legal elites” of San Francisco funding her first campaign to become the city’s District Attorney. Her popularity with the upper classes continued, with billionaires bankrolling her bid for president in 2020.

In response to Biden’s endorsement of Harris, Claudia De la Cruz, a socialist running for president against both Biden and Trump on the ticket of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, wrote, “Let’s remember Kamala may be a Black woman, but class interests matter! She has contributed to the mass incarceration of our Black and brown people and has been complicit of genocide. She isn’t kin nor is she a sister of working women!”

This article originally appeared in People's Dispatch on July 22th, 2024

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