NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. \u2014 Speaking to a crowd speckled with Latino faces and ticking off endorsements from the Latino community, Vice President Harris talked about her family\u2019s own immigration story, focusing on her mother, who first set foot on U.S. soil at the age of 19 and went on to raise a daughter who became a history-making figure.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike so many of the leaders in this room, my mother raised my sister and me to understand the value of hard work, the importance of community and the responsibility that we each have to each other,\u201d Harris told a crowd of about 200 on a recent Saturday afternoon here.<\/p>\n
Carolina Avila and her daughter grew emotional as they watched Harris, a fellow woman of color, speak of her background, the Biden administration\u2019s accomplishments and the work that remains. But Avila, an immigrant from Chile, was concerned that Harris\u2019s message \u2014 delivered to a roomful of loyal Democrats \u2014 would not resonate with friends and neighbors who are not already sold on the party\u2019s promises.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m worried,\u201d said Avila, 50, president of the local Chilean American Association. \u201cI think more work needs to be done to spread what we heard here, to educate the Latino community. That has me worried.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the campaign for the White House intensifies, Harris has been thrust to the forefront of President Biden\u2019s efforts to hang on to young and minority voters \u2014 groups that are vital to his reelection but that may be losing enthusiasm for his candidacy. This month, Harris has championed a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in Nevada, discussed marijuana legalization in the White House with rapper Fat Joe, and called for a cease-fire in Gaza at a commemoration of Bloody Sunday in Alabama. On Friday, she was in Puerto Rico to highlight the administration\u2019s support for the territory.<\/p>\n
That sometimes leaves the two Democratic candidates \u2014 Biden, 81, and Harris, 59 \u2014 courting different parts of the coalition that helped Biden win the presidency. Biden won in 2020 in part by attracting moderate White voters wary of President Donald Trump. And while he also did well with people of color and young voters, recent polls show an erosion of support from those blocs.<\/p>\n
Many in this camp seem more receptive to Harris\u2019s outreach, judging by her recent appearances, but it is not clear whether that will be enough to win them back.<\/p>\n
A recent New York Times-Siena College poll found Trump slightly leading Biden with Latinos, by 6 percentage points, after 2020 exit polls showed Biden winning this group by 33 points. In 2020 exit polls, Black voters favored Biden by 75 points, but the recent poll found Biden\u2019s current margin at 43 points, with 66 percent supporting him and 23 percent backing Trump.<\/p>\n
In interviews, many of these voters expressed frustration with Biden\u2019s handling of a variety of issues, including the Israel-Gaza war, inflation, voting rights and immigration. Some have raised questions about what exactly Biden has done for them in his first term, often fretting about the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n
Increasingly, Biden\u2019s team hopes Harris can provide an answer to these concerns.<\/p>\n
In addition to stops in Latino-heavy Phoenix and North Las Vegas, Harris has been headlining events on reproductive freedom. Last year, she visited colleges with large Black and Latino populations, often turning out big crowds. In each case, she comes armed with talking points on how Biden has helped minorities and appeals to help him finish the job.<\/p>\n
Her most potent argument might be one that goes unvoiced: that as a vice president who is Black, Asian American and female \u2014 and more than two decades younger than Biden \u2014 she offers a guarantee that those communities\u2019 interests will be represented at the White House.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen whether that is a persuasive message for those dissatisfied with what Biden has delivered. In an interview with The Washington Post, Harris declined to assess her effectiveness as a messenger, saying that will be up to voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to decide that, right? I\u2019m not going to decide that,\u201d Harris said. \u201cBut I view it as my responsibility \u2014 in the context of, frankly, my career \u2014 to make sure that I am being available, accessible and that I\u2019m listening. It\u2019s just important to me to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Harris, who sought the White House in 2020 and is widely expected to make another bid, courting Black, Latino and young voters is not just about what happens eight months from now. It is also about fostering long-lasting relationships with key Democratic constituencies.<\/p>\n
Young Latinos, for example, are one of the fastest-growing populations in the country. Almost 1 in 5 U.S. Hispanics are ages 18-29, according to the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n
Harris, who grew up in California, said she has always been sensitive to the concerns of Latinos.<\/p>\n
\u201cI care deeply about it, both in terms of the history and also the future,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI know the strength and the vibrancy of the Latino community. This is not a new focus for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, Harris\u2019s circle has long been concerned that she not be seen as a representative of liberal minorities, but as a leader for all Americans. Conversely, her service under an older White centrist means she is not always embraced by those communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vice presidency is one of the best presidential springboards, but, like everything, it\u2019s not a perfect springboard,\u201d said Joel Goldstein, a scholar of the vice presidency at St. Louis University. \u201cVice presidents get a lot of benefit from being vice president. But one of the challenges is that they inherit the baggage of the administration they serve with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goldstein said Harris\u2019s goal is to leverage her differences from Biden to the administration\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresidents and vice presidents are never total carbon copies of each other,\u201d Goldstein said. \u201cPart of her pitch, number one, is to say \u2018This is what we\u2019ve done,\u2019 but the second is to give the perception that she\u2019s a player, someone who can appeal to groups that may be uncomfortable\u201d with Biden.<\/p>\n
The president successfully courted minority voters for much of his five decades in politics. He served as vice president to the first Black president, Barack Obama, and chose a woman of Black and Asian descent to serve as vice president. In 2020, he relied heavily on Black voters in South Carolina and elsewhere to catapult him to the Democratic nomination.<\/p>\n
In that race, Biden campaigned amid nationwide demonstrations triggered by the killing of George Floyd, as millions called for reforms in education, policing and criminal justice. He has highlighted racial equity throughout his presidency, from visiting the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorating a racist massacre in Tulsa to nominating the first Black female Supreme Court justice.<\/p>\n
Last week, Biden made stops in Nevada and Arizona, visiting a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix to launch an outreach program for Latino voters. In an interview with Univision Radio, he pitched himself as the candidate who understands Latino values. His allies often stress that Trump has spoken in derisive terms about Black Americans, Latino immigrants, Muslims and other minorities.<\/p>\n
But some civil rights activists say Biden has failed to live up to his promises. He could not overcome opposition from Republicans, for example, to push through bills revamping the criminal justice system and protecting voting rights. Biden did sign an executive order in 2022 aimed at preventing and punishing police misconduct.<\/p>\n
For Harris, the challenge is that regardless of her personal history, she is an extension of Biden\u2019s White House. Beyond their concerns on policing and voting rights, some Black activists say the administration\u2019s stance on the war in Gaza shows a troubling lack of concern for members of an oppressed minority, even if they are not Americans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just feels like to me what Kamala Harris is lacking is any authenticity or concern for our people,\u201d said Bernice Lauredan, a Tampa-based activist. While Harris recently called for a cease-fire in Gaza, she added, \u201cit just felt so calculated after months of Black people asking, \u2018Please support Palestine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Lauredan said that \u201chaving a Black woman being vice president is important.\u201d And despite her qualms, she said she will vote for Biden because \u201cpeople forget how bad things were under Trump. It was so chaotic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s close embrace of Israel during its invasion of Gaza has clearly prompted widespread dissatisfaction among young voters as well as people of color. His advantage over Trump among voters ages 18-29 has shrunk dramatically, from 24 points in 2020 to 12 today, according to the New York Times-Siena poll.<\/p>\n
Harris, like Biden and other Democrats, now regularly faces pro-Palestinian protesters at her events. During a stop in Phoenix, her motorcade passed dozens of demonstrators yelling \u201cGenocide Joe\u201d and \u201cButcher Biden,\u201d and she was later interrupted by a protester during remarks on reproductive rights.<\/p>\n
Before the event in North Las Vegas, an aide handed Harris a notecard with bullet points on what to say if she encountered Israel-Gaza war protesters. She looked it over before taking the stage, where she was in fact interrupted by a demonstrator.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, everyone has a chance to speak,\u201d Harris said as the protester was swiftly removed. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Gaza is far from the only issue that is causing discomfort with Biden among minority groups.<\/p>\n
In his 2020 campaign, Biden touted plans to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. But now, faced with unprecedented \u2014 and politically perilous \u2014 migrant crossings at the southern border, Biden has focused instead on trying to get Congress to pass a border security bill that would include the strictest enforcement measures in decades.<\/p>\n
In her speech here, Harris reiterated that she and Biden are \u201cfighting to secure a pathway for citizenship including for our Dreamers and their families,\u201d a reference to migrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019s message elicited mixed feelings for Astrid Silva, a longtime immigrant rights activist.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of us are frustrated,\u201d said Silva, 35. \u201cA lot of things are still up in the air. A lot of things haven\u2019t been done on immigration. That\u2019s tough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet both Silva and Avila expressed delight, and hope, at being in the presence of the first woman of color to serve as vice president. Avila, who emigrated from Chile at age 27, said that despite her disappointment in Biden\u2019s immigration record, she saw Harris\u2019s mention of the issue in her speech as evidence that she cares about helping immigrants.<\/p>\n
Biden and Harris deserve more time to address the issue, Avila said: \u201cI see it like a reminder that we need to give them four more years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. \u2014 Speaking to a crowd speckled with Latino faces and ticking off endorsements from the Latino community, Vice President Harris talked about her family\u2019s own immigration story, focusing on her mother, who first set foot on U.S. soil at the age of 19 and went on to raise a daughter who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}