Kamala Harris Ran to the Right on Economics. It Has Progressives Scrambling.

“It’s obvious they were trying to get credit with donors, and that’s a bad look for voters they’re trying to target in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania,” one progressive strategist told NOTUS.

Kamala Harris arrives at a campaign rally in Chandler, AZ.

Matt York/AP

Kamala Harris has pivoted aggressively to the economic middle since becoming her party’s presidential nominee, relenting on some proposed tax hikes, eagerly touting the support of billionaire Mark Cuban, courting crypto and using rhetoric that can sound almost Republican.

Some progressives are worried it’s more than just talk.

Progressive leaders told NOTUS they’re seriously concerned that Harris is preparing to jettison Democrats’ recent economic populism in favor of a restrained agenda more focused on tax cuts than providing direct financial relief. Even if her aims are still firmly liberal, progressives fear a Harris presidency would still be a severe regression from the more robust populism of Joe Biden’s presidency and set the party down a center-left path they had hoped was left behind years ago.