I said the following the other day, in response to a query from a friend asking for people to say why they’re enthusiastic for Harris, and not just voting against Trump:

I’m excited to vote for Kamala Harris, and I’m happy to say why.

First, I should say that I didn’t know who she was before 2020, and I didn’t pay detailed attention during the primaries (I was all for Elizabeth Warren). So I’ve only gotten to know her during her time as vice president. Here are some things I admire about her:

– Her decades of support for civil rights and for the lgbtq+ community.
– Her plan to continue the administration’s work on the small costs that add up, such as eliminating extra fees and negotiating price caps on insulin and other medicines.
– Her own policy plans for supporting family caregivers with measures like the expanded child tax credit and having Medicare cover the costs of home health aides.
– Her plans to combat price gouging.
– Her commitment to voting rights.
– Her commitment to reproductive rights.
– Her explicit commitment to listen to people who disagree with her.
– The way she talks to people who are excited to meet her.
– Her own humor and enthusiasm.
– Her ability to respond to lies and senseless attacks with integrity and clarity.
– Her choice of Tim Walz (whom I also didn’t know at all until I saw him respond to Vance’s cat lady comments) as VP, with all the wonderful evidence of his causes and efforts in MN.

As Vice President:
– Her work spearheading initiatives to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality.
– Her work with young people, including work on gun safety and reproductive rights.
– Her work with Biden to pass the many amazing programs of their administration: American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (of which I’ve seen various projects in action), CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act (historical investment in clean energy and climate initiatives)!
– The Biden administration’s return to demand-side/consumer opportunity (as 1933-1980) rather than “supply side” or “trickle down” economics (1981-2021), which mostly trickled up.
– Her work with Biden on fixing the terrible supply chain problems and negotiating international agreements to prevent future issues.
– Her diplomacy with Central American leaders, working on solutions to reduce people’s need to flee to the US.
– Her other international diplomacy work, particularly in the IndoPacific, Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. (Apparently she’s become really popular in many of the countries she’s visited.)
– Her work with Biden on diplomacy with Tribal Nations, and making sure they’re included in measures like the Infrastructure Act.
– Her work on establishing new voting rights legislation, even though Republicans killed it.
– Her work on establishing a bipartisan immigration bill that the border patrol approved of, even though Republicans killed it.
– Her work with Biden on student loan forgiveness, and helping all the people they still could after the Republicans killed it.

Which is why we also need the down-ballot races to go blue, in order to elect a Congress that wants to solve problems instead of blocking solutions just to make sure the other side doesn’t score points. And if we have that, then we can work on shifting the conversation further, not just constantly dropping progressive points to appease the right wing.