While calling for stronger protections for reproductive rights, Kamala Harris highlighted a pattern to her policies – stronger government involvement.
“That’s on a number of my policy perspectives. I believe we need to take this stuff on the offensive and get some stuff done,” Harris told the crowd gathered at a Gilford house party on Sunday afternoon.
As the sun bore down and hundreds of people formed a semi-circle on chairs, rocks and feet, all eyes were on the budding star. Hers were on action.
President Trump, who Harris has called for the impeachment of, fell under the cross-hairs first. Harris questioned which America Trump’s marque slogan calls for a return to.
“We’re not going back,” Harris said. “We need a new commander in chief,” she added later, claiming Trump has sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over Americans.
The gun lobby and manufacturers, oil companies and border security came next as Harris wove her time as California’s Attorney General into her bio, which she said taught her the importance of “consequence and accountability.”
“Human rights abuses are being committed by this government,” Harris said on the same day Trump’s long-threatened ICE raids began.
When a girl in the crowd asked Harris about the detainment of undocumented children, the Senator told the story of her visit to the Homestead detention center in Florida, where thousands of children are being held. When Harris said she was blocked from going inside on the visit, a man from the crowd yelled, “take their money!”
“Of course we need to take their money,” Harris answered. “On day one, I plan on shutting down all of those private detention facilities.”
Among the decisive positions Harris laid out, a call for inaction stuck out. Harris would not support mandatory bussing to address racial segregation in schools, she said while answering a crowd question.
“Even today we are still seeing extreme segregation in our schools,” Harris, who’s breakthrough moment in the first Democratic debate came when she challenged former Vice President Biden’s lack of support for mandatory bussing in the 70’s, said. “Mandatory bussing is not going to deal with what we have.”
Harris’s brand of toughness captured the attention of some voters trying to sort through the crowded Democratic field.
“She knows how to deal with bullies and perpetrators,” said Laura Cooley, who was perched shoes-off on a boulder close to Harris during the event. Harris’s promise to fine corporations who fail pay equally across genders was a highlight, Cooley added.
Harris, who often highlights that strength by citing her tenure as a prosecutor, has received criticism for being too severe in that position. That history didn’t bother Steven Hepburn of Gilford, a new American citizen excited to vote for president for the first time. Harris is in his “top tier,” alongside Buttigieg and Warren.
“I like her prosecutorial background,” Hepburn said as he walked down the tall hill dozens of people had climbed to see Harris. “If there’s a fight for anything, she’s up for it.”