Harris promises to write a new chapter for America
Kamala Harris came to Denver on Friday pledging to write a new chapter for America after four years of President Donald Trump and his “fragile ego.”
Sounding familiar campaign promises, Harris told several thousand gathered at Denver’s Manual High School that if she is elected president, she will rewrite the nation’s tax code to favor the middle class, fight climate change and expand health care to all Americans.
“Together, we’re going to create the America we believe in,” she said.
Harris is a leading candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination — one of four who consistently polls in the double digits, with former Vice President Joe Biden, and U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Harris is the second top-tier candidate this year to visit Colorado. Warren hosted an April rally in Aurora. Other candidates who are polling much lower in the primary have visited or plan to visit Colorado. U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, who has visited Colorado before, and Kirsten Gillibrand are hosting fundraisers this month in Colorado. The Associated Press reported Friday that Biden is expected to visit Colorado in September.
Unlike more recent presidential elections, Colorado isn’t expected to be a key battleground state. Colorado voters are overwhelmingly displeased with Trump.
However, the state stands to play a decisive role in the Democratic primary. Colorado voters weigh in on the contest March 3, also known as Super Tuesday, the one day the most delegates are awarded during the entire primary season. For the first time, unaffiliated voters also will be able to participate in the contest.
The crowd at Manual High’s gymnasium, known as the Thunderdome, was made up of true believers and skeptics Friday.
“She’s the perfect combination of strength, vision and intelligence,” Terri Johanson, 46, of Denver, said of Harris. “I have full confidence she’ll represent everyone. She’ll put a human face behind the policy.”
Recent Denver transplant Malcolm Branch, 28, said he’s skeptical, especially about Harris’ record as a prosecutor.
“I’m not for her. I’m not against her,” Branch said before the rally.
Several attendees listed Harris among the top candidates they’re considering but were still taking a wait-and-see approach.
“I’m looking to be inspired,” said Raymond Amos, 62, of Longmont. Why? “Just look at the last three years.”
Harris fans aren’t oblivious to the candidate’s weaknesses, especially her position on health care, which has been muddled since the launch of her campaign. Specifically, she has taken a variety of positions on whether to eliminate private health insurance.
“When you ask the question,
she sways away from it,” said Nettie Wilson, 65, of Denver.
Circling the stage in the center of the gymnasium with microphone in hand, Harris said she will hold health insurance companies accountable for rising premiums and deductibles. She then said that individuals will have a choice between public and private insurance — a key difference between her proposal and Sanders’ and Warren’s.
Harris, framed by the American flag and two Colorado flags, earned her largest applause after pledging to repeal the 2017 tax bill signed by Trump.
“In the America we believe in, we will change the tax code to lift up working families in America,” she said. “On day one, we’re going to repeal that tax bill.”
Harris’ rally at Manual High School was symbolic. Harris made headlines last month when she attacked Biden over his historic position on forced school integration. Manual High was at the center of the Denver Public Schools’ own integration experiment for much of the 1970s and 1980s until a judge in 1995 ended a court order to bus students across the city.
Harris has faced criticism over her own position on forced integration. After the debate, she said she opposed federally mandated integration — more or less Biden’s position. Later, she said she would support federal intervention if a local government openly opposed integration.
Harris didn’t address integration but, as part of her agenda, pledged to increase teacher pay. “I strongly believe you should judge a society by how it treated its children,” she said.
While Harris didn’t mince words on Trump, she stressed her campaign aims to heal a divided nation.
“The vast majority of us have so much more in common than what operates us,” she said. “So let’s hold on to that as we turn the page and write the next chapter.”