What does Kamala Harris stand for? A progressive economic and social agenda and continuity in foreign policy

A more progressive economic agenda than that of Joe Biden, an open defense of abortion rights without the moral reservation of the president, an 81-year-old practicing Catholic; continuity in foreign policy and nods to free college education, as well as to minority voters whose right to vote has been harmed by Supreme Court decisions and by the limits imposed by Republican legislators. Kamala Harris’s program — if she is elected as Democratic nominee for president and reaches the White House in November — will build on Biden’s legacy and, depending on the balance of forces in Congress, with more ambitious policies on economic and social issues, the first of which is sexual and reproductive health including abortion.

Abortion

This is perhaps the issue on which the vice president feels most comfortable. On the same day in the spring of 2023 that the Biden-Harris candidacy became official, she participated in an event in defense of women’s sexual and reproductive freedom at her alma mater, the historically African American Howard University in Washington. In her first two speeches since Biden’s withdrawal, she has insisted at separate campaign events on defending the right to abortion. “We will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion ban because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies and not have the government tell them what to do,” she said in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) and with it federal protection of abortion, this has become an issue that wins and loses elections. That is why the Republicans insisted at the convention they held last week to anoint Trump as their absolute leader on their latest argument: they are not pursuing a federal ban on abortion, but to remain faithful to the spirit of what the Supreme Court ruling dictated and leaving the matter to be regulated by the states. Wherever popular consultations have been held at the ballot box, voters have decided to protect women’s freedom of choice.

Israel, Gaza and foreign policy

If elected, Harris can be expected to largely maintain the Biden administration’s Gaza policy. As vice president, she has reiterated her support for Israel’s security and right to defense, while expressing the need to end the suffering of Palestinian civilians. In December she said,:”As Israel pursues its military objectives in Gaza, we believe Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians.” That same month she traveled to Dubai for talks with Arab leaders. On March 4, she called for an immediate truce and added that Israel should expand the flow of humanitarian aid to the enclave. This Monday, on the eve of her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of her advisors summed up her position: “It is time for the war to end in a way in which Israel is safe, all hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can enjoy their right to dignity, freedom and self-determination.” Harris was charged with meeting with members of Michigan’s Arab community, who are unhappy with the Democratic administration’s strong support for Israel and who in the primaries dealt a blow to Biden. In pro-Israel forums such as AIPAC, the main American Jewish lobby, she has made no secret of her support for Israel.

With respect to other conflicts, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the tension between China and Taiwan, continuity is also to be expected. Harris strongly supports Ukraine’s right to defend itself against Russia and the role of NATO, including the validity of Article 5 and collective defense. In June she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Switzerland. In Asia, she agrees with the U.S. president on the need to counter China’s hegemony in the region. Where her position has changed the most is regarding India, her mother’s country of origin. In 2019, Narendra Modi’s revocation of Kashmir’s autonomy provoked harsh criticism from Harris. When in the White House, she reconsidered her stance on India as a prop to rein in China. In 2023, she publicly praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

The US-Mexico border

This is the candidate’s most exposed flank. At the beginning of the legislature, Biden ceded to her the management of the border with Mexico and the migratory crisis. It was interpreted then as a vote of confidence, but also as a way to not put the president’s political capital at risk on a thorny issue. On her first foreign trip as vice president, Harris traveled to Mexico and Central America and uttered three words that defined the start of her term: “Do not come,” she told Guatemalan migrants, drawing harsh criticism.

Irregular border crossings have broken records during the last three and a half years and Republicans want to crystallize the message that much of the blame for the poor management of the migration crisis lies with Harris, whom they have come to call the “border czar,” despite the exaggeration of the label compared to her real involvement in the issue. In an unusual call with reporters that perhaps points to his unease at the initial enthusiasm that the change of candidate has provoked among his own, Donald Trump said Tuesday: “If she becomes president, Kamala Harris will make the invasion exponentially worse.” He added: “And just like she did with San Francisco [where she was district attorney], just like she did with the border, our whole country will be permanently destroyed.” The Republican candidate also promised: “I will seal the border, stop the invasion and keep America safe.” Polls indicate that the immigration crisis is one of the top concerns of registered voters, and that they mostly blame it on Biden.

Economy

Harris’ economic agenda could be more progressive than so-called Bidenomics. As a candidate for president in the 2020 Democratic primaries, the then-California senator made the case for raising taxes and increasing investment in housing. She called Trump’s 2017 tax reform a “giveaway to the rich,” argued that the booming stock market was leaving the middle class behind and warned that his reckless trade agenda, marked by war with China, was hurting the nation’s farmers. “This economy is not working for working people,” she said in 2019. Hopefully, if she becomes president, her agenda will be couched in similar terms but in a very different context, marked by inflation, which set prices on fire in 2022. As California attorney general, she favored regulation to protect consumer rights.

Harris has ardently defended Biden’s economic policy, with initiatives such as the 2021 bailout plan to overcome the ravages of the pandemic and the green-tinged Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. But as attorney general and senator, she was more progressive than the president, pushing for universal healthcare while calling for more generous tax breaks for working-class Americans at the cost of higher corporate tax hikes.

Climate

Harris’s position on the climate crisis has traditionally been farther to the left than that of Biden, a president whose most enduring legislative achievement may have been getting the Inflation Reduction Act passed, the anodyne name behind the most significant legislative package in U.S. history in its commitment to tackling global warming, which also brought with it the largest climate investment on record.

When she was attorney general of California, Harris created an environmental justice office and pursued polluting companies; in her time as senator she promoted the so-called Green New Deal; and when she ran for president in 2020 she advocated banning fracking, the hydraulic fracturing technique to obtain hydrocarbons, a position she later had to retract in a vice-presidential debate.

On this issue, the contrast with the Republican campaign is a chasm. Trump, whose supporters applaud his flirtations with climate denialism, has rescued the old, catchy Republican slogan “Drill, baby, drill” to indicate that if he returns to the White House, he will dismantle all the Biden administration’s advances toward a clean energy future. At last week’s Republican Convention in Milwaukee, Trump promised in his acceptance speech that America will be energy self-sufficient. “We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country — we as a nation will make a fortune with oil and gas,” he assured.

Education and universities

In education, Harris’ most progressive mood is evident. She has defended student loan forgiveness and free university education, while denouncing the profit motive of some universities. As a senator, she signed a bill to make public universities free (it was also a Biden proposal) and to help universities cover students’ basic needs, such as food, housing and transportation. Prior to that, as California attorney general, she uncovered abusive practices at some for-profit colleges and pushed for the cancellation of loans taken out by students defrauded by such institutions.

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