Thinking Citizen Blog — Kamala Harris (Part IV)
Thinking Citizen Blog — Sunday is Political Process, Campaign Strategy, and Candidate Selection Day
Today’s Topic — Kamala Harris (Part Four) Election of 2016, Key Votes in US Senate, the Democratic Primary of 2020
Three weeks ago, a post on her Tamil mother, “the most important person in my life.” Two weeks ago, one on her Jamaican father (largely absent from her life, but still a big part of her identity as a black woman). Last week, a post on her childhood and early career as an assistant district attorney, district attorney, and attorney general of California. Today, the election of 2016, key votes in the US Senate, and the Democratic primary of 2020. Next time: the Biden-Harris campaign and a final assessment. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
THE ELECTION OF 2016 — No Republican opposition! Wins 61.8% to 38.4% against fellow Democrat
1. “It was the first time a Republican did not appear in a general election for the Senate since California began directly electing senators in 1914.”
2. Her opponent in the general election was a Democratic congresswoman, Loretta Sanchez, who had served in Congress from 1997 to 2017. Sanchez was considered a moderate-conservative so-called “Blue Dog” Democrat. But her voting record was that she voted with Nancy Pelosi 98% of the time and got a “zero” approval rating from the American Conservative Union.
3. Harris was supported by both President Obama and California Governor Tom Brown.
KEY VOTES — Trump, Supreme Court nominations, Secretary of Education
1. Voted to convict Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
2. Voted against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
3. Voted against the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.
THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY OF 2020
1. Harris announced her candidacy for the US Presidency in January 2019 and was considered a frontrunner from the start. Campaign funds flowed in.
2. Playing the race card against Biden in the first Presidential debate in June 2019 at first, gave her a sharp bump up in the polls, but progressive attacks on her tough on crime policies as attorney general caused her support to wither.
3. However, by the summer of 2020, it looked like Biden would feel compelled to pick an African American woman as his VP and that Harris was the one with “the political experience most typical of vice presidents.”
Kamala Harris
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to political process or campaign strategy or 2020 candidate selection or anything else for that matter.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day or change their thinking. Or to consolidate in your own memory something worth remembering that might otherwise be lost. Or to clarify or deepen your own understanding of something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
