Kathryn Schumaker
Sydney, September 8, 2024
When Vice-President Kamala Harris capped off the Democratic National Convention with a speech that some admiring commenters lauded as “the speech that Democrats craved,” “a home run,” and “perfect”, she paved a middle road and seemed suited to appeal as much to independents and Republicans who are disaffected with Donald Trump as Democrats.
Yet, after the glitz and glamour of the stage-managed event, the focus will now shift to what Harris’s “big tent” approach means in terms of concrete policies.
In the coming weeks, many voters will expect Harris to stake out clearer positions on some of the most pressing issues facing the US, including inflation, immigration and healthcare access and affordability.
Harris’s previous reluctance to make her policy priorities clear is important, in part, because it appears that her public positions on certain issues have shifted since she announced her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic primary election.
Changes over Medicare stance
In 2019, Harris announced her support of Medicare For All, a proposed extension of the government healthcare programme that currently only insures people aged 65 or older.
At the DNC, speakers emphasised the Biden Administration’s efforts to lower the price of insulin, but this change only applies to those currently eligible for Medicare, and Harris no longer supports Medicare For All.
In 2023, more than 25 million Americans did not have health insurance.
Four years ago, Harris’s DNC speech aimed at “structural racism,” noting how the pandemic disproportionately affected marginalised communities and making reference to the Black Lives Matter protests that spread throughout the US in the months following George Floyd’s murder.
The 2024 DNC featured the testimonies of victims and survivors of gun violence, including former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.
But there was little mention of police killings, even though the number of Americans killed by law enforcement officers has actually increased since 2019.
If current trends continue, 2024 will be an even deadlier year.
Strong on abortion rights
One place where the Harris campaign has emphasised a clear policy position is in its stance toward reproductive rights.
In her speech, Harris vowed to sign a federal law protecting access to “reproductive freedom,” including abortion care. Abortion access has been greatly restricted across the US since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Fourteen states have near-total bans on abortion; another four states restrict abortion access after six weeks of pregnancy. These laws affect more than 25 million women of reproductive age. More than half of Black women of reproductive age live in states that limit abortion access.
The issue will be a pressing one in November, and not just for the presidential race.
Voters in ten states will have the opportunity to weigh in directly on initiatives and referendums affecting abortion access. In swing states, including Florida, Arizona and Nevada, voters will decide whether to protect or extend the right to terminate a pregnancy.
Across the US, “abortion storytellers” are travelling from city to city, meeting with voters to talk about their own decisions to terminate pregnancies — often in cases where a woman or her fetus faced a devastating diagnosis — bringing public faces to an issue that has long been stigmatised.
The Harris campaign made these voices central at the DNC, and they linked the broader theme of reproductive freedom to include access to assisted reproductive technology, including IVF treatments.
Prominent politicians, including Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, spoke of their own struggles with infertility and the decision to pursue IVF to build their families.
Will cost of living relief win votes?
Another place that the Harris campaign has sought to stake a clear policy position is on the cost-of-living crisis.
In the days following the DNC, Harris’s campaign released an advertisement promising government grant to first-time home buyers and tens of billions of dollars to fund incentives for local governments to allow the development of multi-family housing.
Harris also called for a “middle-class tax cut.”
It is unclear the extent to which these policies if enacted, would ease the pinch of inflation felt by households in the short term, as many families struggle to make ends meet.
Immigration reform
Bringing down housing costs is an ambitious goal for any hypothetical Harris presidency. However, perhaps even more impressive is Harris’s promise to achieve immigration reform.
Efforts by both Republicans and Democrats have failed to produce comprehensive immigration reform over the past four decades.
As recently as May 2024, Republicans torpedoed a bipartisan bill focused on border security, even though the law would have increased the budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement by billions of dollars and given the Border Patrol greater authority to shut down border crossings.
Harris promised to revive Biden’s recently-defeated bipartisan border security bill, which she claimed would both “create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border.”
The last major legislative achievement on this issue was the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, signed into law by then-President Ronald Reagan, which offered amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants while also increasing enforcement efforts.
Efforts since then have mostly failed and resulted in piecemeal changes.
As the Democratic nominee for President, Harris has made lofty promises to restore joy and optimism to a polarised American people. Whether voters are persuaded by her claims and whether they will drive turnout, especially among the Democratic base—is the major test she faces in November.
Dr Kathryn Schumaker is a Senior Lecturer in American Studies at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. She holds a PhD in US history from the University of Chicago and a BA in American Studies from Northwestern University. The above article and picture, published first by 360info, have been published here under Creative Commons.
