Kamala Harris’ new economic plan is full of policies Democrats have tried and failed to pass against a Republican wall in Congress, foreshadowing an uphill battle should she win the White House.
Democrats on the Hill, however, including some involved in past efforts to push through some of Harris’ new provisions like paid family leave, took an optimistic — if Sisyphean — tone.
“There are a lot of things that don’t get passed and you just have to persevere,” Sen. Mazie Hirono told NOTUS.
“You never stop. When something needs to happen, you keep fighting for what’s right,” Rep. Debbie Dingell echoed.
And maybe, just maybe, the plan’s existence is enough to keep Democrats in the White House, pollsters and lawmakers tell NOTUS.
Nationally, Harris is closing the gap with former President Donald Trump on who voters view as strongest on the economy, but polling in swing states consistently has two themes: the economy is by far the most important issue to voters and voters trust Trump over Harris to handle it.
A Franklin & Marshall College poll of voters in Pennsylvania published last week found Harris with a three-point lead in the battleground state, but Trump led 50-39 as the candidate “most prepared to handle the economy.” A Quinnipiac University poll published last week likewise had Harris narrowly leading in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, but narrowly down against Trump in all three states on the economy.
“She doesn’t have to win on the economy with everybody. She just has to win among that group of independents that will be significant,” said Berwood Yost, the director of the F&M poll in Pennsylvania.
“She’s got to make people believe that she’s got a plan that’s going to help them, to extend her support among independent voters in a way that makes them feel like she can do something to help,” he said.
The Harris campaign’s choice of the Economic Club of Pittsburgh for her Wednesday economic policy speech is a hopeful sign to campaign surrogates in Congress that Harris is centering an economic message and putting it up front in swing states.
“She has to do more of that: speak to communities that care about middle-class jobs, manufacturing jobs,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean, who represents the Philadelphia suburbs.
“The western part of the state has a higher percentage of registered Republicans,” Dean said. “But I think she can appeal to the registered Republicans and bring moderate ones who are looking for a home.”
Harris’ speech was less about specific policy details and than it was about her own background and values. A senior campaign official said the tactic is driven by internal polling that says hearing her talk broadly about the economy is more compelling than the details on paper.
“For Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers. Not those who build them. Not those who wire them. Not those who mop the floors,” Harris said during the speech.
Harris said growing the middle class would be “a defining goal” of her presidency, highlighting proposals to lower taxes for the middle class, institute paid family leave and a $3,600 child tax credit and create more low-income housing.
Those are all policies that Democrats in the House and Senate, facing overwhelming Republican opposition, haven’t been able to enact this Congress. The House passed a bipartisan bill expanding low-income housing and the child tax credit, but the bill has sat for nine months in the Senate.
Sen. Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has led efforts to get the child tax credit across the finish line this year. He and other Democrats are working on legislation to turn Harris’ economic platform into a bill that will be ready on day one of her administration, Semafor reported.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren insisted there’s a future for the ideas Harris is proposing that have floundered under Biden.
“There is a road. The road is, November 5: Get rid of the Republicans who are obstructing investment in childcare and building opportunities for our families,” she said. “That is a road, that’s what elections are about.”
Even some Democrats who think Harris is in the right place on policy think she has a ways to go on how she actually talks to voters about it.
“I think therein lies the challenge,” Rep. Mark Takano said. “But, I mean, she’s got ample resources to be able to get that message out.”
“We still have more time, and she’s going to continue to get that message out there. So are all the surrogates too, on the ground,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Harris surrogate, said.
“For decades, Republicans just are at a better advantage on the economy in general, versus a generic Democrat,” Frost added. “So in terms of the economy, we start from a harder place as Democrats. I think that has to do with stigma, not anything legitimate.”
Rep. Angie Craig, who’s in a competitive race herself, said Harris needs to stay focused on reality in order to win over middle-class voters.
“She needs to make sure that, first and foremost, that she understands that there is still struggle out there in the American family, and especially when it comes to going to the grocery store twice a week and trying to feed a family,” Craig said.
“She has six weeks. I think she needs to continue to talk about it,” she said.
As to how one Pennsylvania senator thinks Harris’ policies will resonate with voters? Sen. John Fetterman waved it off, saying reporters’ focus on economic details is the wrong approach altogether.
“Is [Trump] talking about policies? Have they dropped a bunch of white papers? Any kind of nuance in that?” he told NOTUS.
“I’m not going to be standing here talking about the Laffer curve and other kinds of policies until the media has a part acknowledging the crazy things the Trump campaign has become all about.”
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Claire Heddles and Katherine Swartz are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.