Marin: Selection receives praise; some liberals less enthusiastic
Marin residents reacted with varying levels of enthusiasm Tuesday to Joe Biden’s pick of Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.
Ricardo Moncrief, director of the Marin City community group ISOJI, said, “It’s an excellent pick. She has all the credentials in the world. A string of successes. She’s a good campaigner. She is going to inspire a whole boatload of women to join the campaign. I couldn’t have been more pleased.”
Susan Bolle of Tiburon, who supported Harris when Harris was competing with Biden to become the Democrats’ presidential nominee, said, “This is the perfect moment for her to be picked for this. I’m just really excited to have her on the national stage. In person, she is the warmest, most authentic person you could imagine.”
Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat who lives in San Rafael, said, “She is a great choice. It strengthens the ticket. It strengthens our turnout. There will be a lot of excitement across this country, especially among women and people
of color based on what she brings to the ticket.”
Paul Cohen, chairman of the Marin Democratic Party, said, “Biden made a great choice. Here in California we’ve seen her in action. Harris is very smart and very hard working. She brings life experience that is different from Biden’s and at this moment I think that is really valuable. I would pay money to watch her debate Mike Pence.”
There was some dissent, however, on the party’s more liberal wing.
In a joint statement issued Tuesday, RootsAction. org and Progressive Democrats of America wrote: “As we saw during her own presidential campaign, Kamala Harris is a political weather vane. First she was for Medicare for All, then she wasn’t. She failed for years to hold police accountable for gross misconduct in California, then touted her commitment to police accountability in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.”
West Marin activist Norman Solomon is co-founder and national coordinator of RootsAction.org.
The statement concluded, “We will fight every day to hold Vice President Harris to the higher ideals she often espouses, and make sure those winds blow decisively in the direction of a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and a level playing field for working families everywhere.”
Mark Solomons of Fairfax, who supported Bernie Sanders’ campaign to become the Democratic presidential nominee, said, “Among the other African Americans Biden could have picked Stacey Abrams would have been a better choice, in terms of progressive values. Kamala’s record as a prosecutor here in San Francisco is going to cause her some problems. She has some baggage that she brings.”
Huffman, however, said, “I don’t think that is going to drive a wedge in our base of support. Frankly, the fact that she was a prosecutor makes it a lot harder for these law-andorder Trump supporters to attack her, because she has actually upheld law and order.”
Fearn de Vicq of Corte Madera, who supported Sen. Elizabeth Warren for the nomination, said she and other Warren supporters would have loved to have seen Biden pick her.
“I think all of us realized that with the Black Lives Matter movement that it was going to have to be someone of color,” de Vicq said. “I don’t know that much about Kamala. She seems like a solid pick. I just wanted someone who would get people excited and there are a lot of people who love Kamala, especially in California.”
Lori Sackman of Novato, who supported Pete Buttigieg for the Democratic nomination, said, “I’m good with it. I figured it was either going to be Harris or Susan Rice. I was leaning toward Susan Rice but Kamala will be good. I’m happy.”
Another Buttigieg supporter, David Kunhardt of Corte Madera, said, “I was pulling for Susan Rice but mostly I’m pulling for Joe Biden. I’m going to work like crazy for the ticket.”