Progressives warn that Harris needs to change his closing message as the election nears

policy

“They need to start speaking more to the needs of working class people,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said. “I wish it had happened two months ago. It is what it is.”

By STEVE PEOPLES, Associated Press

October 25, 2024 | 7:55 AM

NEW YORK (AP) — Progressive Democrats are warning Kamala Harris risks losing the support of a small but significant part of his political base if he does not immediately change his final campaign message – and its messengers.

Specifically, some progressive leaders believe the Democratic nominee has been too focused on winning over moderate Republicans in recent days at the expense of passionate liberals in her own party. And they say Harris’ closing message, which is increasingly focused on Republican Donald Trump and the threat he poses to American democracy, ignores the economic struggles of the nation’s working class.

Some far-left leaders are also upset that Harris has shared the stage in recent days with former House Republican leader Liz Cheney and billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, while progressive icons like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was demoted. in low-profile roles.

“The truth is there are a lot more working class people who could vote for Kamala Harris than conservative Republicans,” Sanders told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

Sanders noted that he did whatever was asked to help Harris win. He has attended two dozen Harris campaign events this month alone, though they are mostly in rural areas. No one was with Harris.

“They need to start speaking more to the needs of working class people,” Sanders said. “I wish it had happened two months ago. It is what it is.”

Less than two weeks before election day Harris is trying to assemble a broad coalition of voting groups with conflicting priorities.

She draws on the traditional Democratic base – African-Americans, Latinos and young people who lean overwhelmingly to the left. Harris’ team is aware that some liberals are frustrated with her approach, particularly her support for Israel’s war against Hamas. But the campaign sees a major opportunity to expand its coalition by winning over disaffected Republicans, particularly college-educated voters in the nation’s suburbs who are uneasy about Trump.

From the Harris campaign’s perspective, focusing on moderate Republicans right now is simply a matter of math.

The Democrat’s campaign estimates that 10 percent of swing state voters are still undecided or convinced, according to an aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy. Of that 10 percent, about 7 percent are considered “Cheney Republicans” who are receptive to messages attacking Trump, the aide said.

At the same time, the Harris campaign believes her main political liability is the perception that she is too far left. Trump’s allies are taking to the airwaves to accuse the former California senator of being a “radical left-wing liberal.” She has therefore been reluctant to appear alongside progressive icons like Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist.

Instead, Harris made three appearances this week with Cheney, a staunch conservative who was an ally of Trump before suddenly turning against him after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Harris is scheduled to deliver a major speech next week, a sort of formal closing argument, focused on the danger Trump poses to American democracy. She will deliver the speech on Tuesday at the Ellipse in Washington, the same venue where Trump hosted the rally that preceded the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Frustrated progressives are not ignoring the need to warn voters about Trump’s authoritarian leanings, but some wish her closing message was more focused on addressing voters’ overwhelming pessimism about the state of the economy and the direction of the country.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Campaign Committee for Progressive Change, praised Harris’ advertising team for “smartly” investing hundreds of millions of dollars behind ads focusing on food prices, taxation of billionaires and Social Security – “things that win both swing and pump voters. up at the base.”

But, Green said, “there’s been a strange disconnect between the campaign’s economic populist ad strategy and the event strategy that focuses almost exclusively on Kumbaya Liz Cheney optics that depress the grassroots right as voting begins and probably don’t win over more swing voters than bread. problems with butter.”

Others are frustrated that the Harris campaign hasn’t featured progressive leaders like Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez in high-profile spots.

Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive group Our Revolution, suggested that up to 10 percent of progressives may not vote for Harris because of their frustrations. Some may not vote at all, he said, while some may even support Trump. The former president called Cheney, a supporter of the US invasion of Iraq, a “stupid war hawk” as he tries to win over Arab Americans in Michigan, angry over the more than 42,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza .

“We just want to raise a red flag. Don’t take the progressive movement for granted,” Geevarghese said. “There has to be an economic argument at the end of the day. That’s the first thing that matters to voters.”

Indeed, about 4 in 10 likely voters in a recent CNN poll said the economy is their most important issue when deciding how to vote, and about 2 in 10 said it protects democracy. About 1 in 10 named either immigration or abortion and reproductive rights.

Of course, Harris isn’t ignoring the economy or other progressive priorities.

She outlined plans to clamp down on corporate price gouging to help reduce the cost of food, in addition to cutting the cost of prescription drugs, cutting taxes on the middle class and raising taxes on billionaires by offering a $25,000 tax credit for the first time. homebuyers to help lower housing costs and expanding Medicare to cover vision and hearing coverage, among other things.

Ocasio-Cortez made three stops in the swing state of Pennsylvania last week on behalf of Harris. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, a key Harris ally, has also been a constant presence on the campaign trail.

Former President Barack Obama, still beloved by many progressive voters, was active in the closing days of the campaign. He headlined an event with Harris for the first time Thursday night in Georgia.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to focus on the issues his campaign sees as strongest: the economy and inflation, immigration, crime and foreign policy.

The Republican nominee is due to deliver his formal closing address on Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden, which is expected to focus on ordinary Americans’ dissatisfaction with the direction of the country. He starts virtually every rally with a variation: Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

“Kamala Harris broke the economy. She broke the boundary. President Trump is very clearly going to fix the economy and fix the border,” said Trump senior campaign adviser Jason Miller, who argued that Harris, by focusing on Trump, was not talking about how he would make life better for the vast majority of the population. Americans.

Harris acknowledged during a CNN town hall this week that some progressives may be unhappy with her leadership, particularly on Israel.

“But I also know that a lot of people who care about this issue also care about lower food prices,” she said. “They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.”

Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Zeke Miller in Washington and Jill Colvin in Tempe, Ariz., contributed to this report.