Kamala Harris 2020 campaign megathread

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RTs on annnoucement tweet!
Kamala Harris - 49. 8k
Elizabeth Warren - 17.3k
Tulsi Gabbard - 3.1k
Kirsten Gillibrand - 1.3k

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She stole her slogan from John Morgan's law firm lol

Um no.. The logo is inspired by Shirley Chisholm. First black female presidential candidate.

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I’m seeing a lot of enthusiasm for Kamala on Twitter... from white liberals and media figures. But black people seem to be complaining about her “pro-cop record”. This is just acedotal evidence. Obama didn’t catch fire with the blacks till state’s started actually voting in 2008.

No surprise, but it's certainly valid criticism. I've been trying to say that Harris and Booker doing very well among the black vote is no guarantee, especially with how split this primary will be. We have to stop assuming that black candidates will win the black vote and then the nomination or get very close to it. And Twitter is not the best indication of support, but I'm sure you know that, lol. I also assume that the white liberals you're referring to mostly must've been HRC 2016 supporters which would make a lot of sense.

She and Booker might split the Black male vote. However, she would dominate the Black female vote. Black women vote in higher numbers and are slightly more Democratic leaning than Black men.

“Unlike Booker though, Harris will say no to dark money. Multiple outlets report that she plans on rejecting assistance from super PACs as well as corporate dollars.”

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Has Harris every actually done anything to connect with the black community?

They might consider her but Booker has been much more a pro black candidate.

She comes from San Francisco/Bay area which is mostly white and asian. Only a few black people are there. Meanwhile Booker comes from heavily black Newark so he has some idea on how to connect to black candidates

On criminal justice issues she was not a great candidate for the black community as she had many harsh policies as AG. Meanwhile Booker was one of the largest proponents of CJ reform working strongly with Rand Paul

Booker has also shown much more aptness to visit deep south states atm so this also helps him.

And no having an affair with Willie Brown does not count as connecting with the black community

She attended Howard University, which is one of the best HBCUs in the country. Anyways, Kamala is from Oakland.

Oakland has a sizable Black population. Also, The Black Panther Party started in Oakland.

She was born in Oakland, but raised in the very white Quebec by her single Indian mother. Sure she went to Howard, but her career as a prosecutor and her interracial marriage will get her a lot more questions about her connection to the black community than Barack Obama who was a former community organizer with a black family.

Not really. She grew up in Oakland in a black neighbourhood and only moved to Quebec as a teenager for a few years. Unlike Obama who really did grow up in a white family and in a predominately white community until he left for college. But yes he married a black woman and immersed himself in the black community as an adult. I’d argue it’s the other way around given that Obama’s first book deals with his alienation as the only mixed raced boy in a white community.Harris on the other hand was raised in the black community. And seems to not have experienced the sense of confusion and conflict Obama describes.
Also little tidbit her dad was a Marxist economist professor at Stanford.

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Has Harris every actually done anything to connect with the black community?

They might consider her but Booker has been much more a pro black candidate.

She comes from San Francisco/Bay area which is mostly white and asian. Only a few black people are there. Meanwhile Booker comes from heavily black Newark so he has some idea on how to connect to black candidates

On criminal justice issues she was not a great candidate for the black community as she had many harsh policies as AG. Meanwhile Booker was one of the largest proponents of CJ reform working strongly with Rand Paul

Booker has also shown much more aptness to visit deep south states atm so this also helps him.

And no having an affair with Willie Brown does not count as connecting with the black community

She attended Howard University, which is one of the best HBCUs in the country. Anyways, Kamala is from Oakland.

Oakland has a sizable Black population. Also, The Black Panther Party started in Oakland.

She was born in Oakland, but raised in the very white Quebec by her single Indian mother. Sure she went to Howard, but her career as a prosecutor and her interracial marriage will get her a lot more questions about her connection to the black community than Barack Obama who was a former community organizer with a black family.

If this is the sort of campaign "progressives" for Bernie or for whoever plan on running they are only going to make themselves look bad. Questioning who blackness is a recipe for helping her more than anything.

What the previous poster is trying to say is that, correctly if I may add, that Harris doesnt have many ties to the AA community, and hell, we dont know how well she will preform with African Americans, we are all just making assumptions that she will do well. We wont know until a year's time, but there isnt much to point towards Harris doing well with the demographic currently.

The thing is the previous poster is wrong. She didn’t grow up in Canada.. she grew up in Oakland. It’s also incredibly bizarre to claim a Howard graduate doesn’t have many ties to the black community.... btw she was literally there today, first stop as she launched her campaign...

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Has Harris every actually done anything to connect with the black community?

They might consider her but Booker has been much more a pro black candidate.

She comes from San Francisco/Bay area which is mostly white and asian. Only a few black people are there. Meanwhile Booker comes from heavily black Newark so he has some idea on how to connect to black candidates

On criminal justice issues she was not a great candidate for the black community as she had many harsh policies as AG. Meanwhile Booker was one of the largest proponents of CJ reform working strongly with Rand Paul

Booker has also shown much more aptness to visit deep south states atm so this also helps him.

And no having an affair with Willie Brown does not count as connecting with the black community

She attended Howard University, which is one of the best HBCUs in the country. Anyways, Kamala is from Oakland.

Oakland has a sizable Black population. Also, The Black Panther Party started in Oakland.

She was born in Oakland, but raised in the very white Quebec by her single Indian mother. Sure she went to Howard, but her career as a prosecutor and her interracial marriage will get her a lot more questions about her connection to the black community than Barack Obama who was a former community organizer with a black family.

If this is the sort of campaign "progressives" for Bernie or for whoever plan on running they are only going to make themselves look bad. Questioning who blackness is a recipe for helping her more than anything.

What the previous poster is trying to say is that, correctly if I may add, that Harris doesnt have many ties to the AA community, and hell, we dont know how well she will preform with African Americans, we are all just making assumptions that she will do well. We wont know until a year's time, but there isnt much to point towards Harris doing well with the demographic currently.

The thing is the previous poster is wrong. She didn’t grow up in Canada.. she grew up in Oakland. It’s also incredibly bizarre to claim a Howard graduate doesn’t have many ties to the black community.... btw she was literally there today, first stop as she launched her campaign...

If she was raised in Canads or only went to highschool in Canada is less important than her record as a prosecutor, particularly her stances on 3 strikes, marijuana and truancy laws.

Of course, but I am not the one saying it matters, I simply corrected you because what you said is not true, it’s a bit strange that it’s no longer important when you literally just used it to argue against her candidacy... this is starting to sound like the whole Obama isn’t black enough stuff that went on when he was running.

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Has Harris every actually done anything to connect with the black community?

They might consider her but Booker has been much more a pro black candidate.

She comes from San Francisco/Bay area which is mostly white and asian. Only a few black people are there. Meanwhile Booker comes from heavily black Newark so he has some idea on how to connect to black candidates

On criminal justice issues she was not a great candidate for the black community as she had many harsh policies as AG. Meanwhile Booker was one of the largest proponents of CJ reform working strongly with Rand Paul

Booker has also shown much more aptness to visit deep south states atm so this also helps him.

And no having an affair with Willie Brown does not count as connecting with the black community

She attended Howard University, which is one of the best HBCUs in the country. Anyways, Kamala is from Oakland.

Oakland has a sizable Black population. Also, The Black Panther Party started in Oakland.

She was born in Oakland, but raised in the very white Quebec by her single Indian mother. Sure she went to Howard, but her career as a prosecutor and her interracial marriage will get her a lot more questions about her connection to the black community than Barack Obama who was a former community organizer with a black family.

If this is the sort of campaign "progressives" for Bernie or for whoever plan on running they are only going to make themselves look bad. Questioning who blackness is a recipe for helping her more than anything.

What the previous poster is trying to say is that, correctly if I may add, that Harris doesnt have many ties to the AA community, and hell, we dont know how well she will preform with African Americans, we are all just making assumptions that she will do well. We wont know until a year's time, but there isnt much to point towards Harris doing well with the demographic currently.

The thing is the previous poster is wrong. She didn’t grow up in Canada.. she grew up in Oakland. It’s also incredibly bizarre to claim a Howard graduate doesn’t have many ties to the black community.... btw she was literally there today, first stop as she launched her campaign...

If she was raised in Canads or only went to highschool in Canada is less important than her record as a prosecutor, particularly her stances on 3 strikes, marijuana and truancy laws.

Of course, but I am not the one saying it matters, I simply corrected you because what you said is not true, it’s a bit strange that it’s no longer important when you literally just used it to argue against her candidacy... this is starting to sound like the whole Obama isn’t black enough stuff that went on when he was running.

Whether you like it or not, if her identity as a black woman will be a central part of Harris' camapign she better be ready to answers those who question her connections to the black community. Whatever her relationship with Canada is will be a part of that, as I've seen it mentioned several times in the past few weeks.

The reason I mentioned Obama's history as a community organizer and his family in my oringal comment was to acknowledge that he also faced these questions during his 08 campaign, but had those two advantages.

The difference between now and then is that there's a growing number of young black voters who feel as though the issues facing the black community are the least prioritized by the Democratic Party. Having a strong platform to help solve those issues will be asked of every candidate, including the ones I plan on supporting in the primaries. Simply being black or going to Howard probably won't cut it.

I get that. And I agree. But you embellished Harris background by claiming she didn’t grow up in Oakland. I understand disliking a candidate but still let’s stick to the facts. Or we are no better than trump supporters who have already started a birthed movement on her.
Also she worked on Jesse Jackson presidential campaign and co chaired Obama 08 campaign she’s memtored tons of young black women in SF over decades and has been very active in the community in that sense. This assumption you have that she hasn’t got strong ties to the black community suggests you been misinformed and or didn’t really look into her background before forming an opinion.

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I'd like to note that Harris' campaign chairwoman is the person in charge of crafting a policy agenda (so-called) for Hillary's 2016 campaign.  Talk about failing upward

Maya Harris helped edit "The New Jim Crow" which has become a major point of reference for the Black Lives Matter movement and criminal justice reform activists. This makes me happy.

Yep, and Maya Harris was never part of Clinton’s inner circle going back years like the rest of her policy advisors, she was hired later (in 2016) to advise Clinton particularly on race, gender, economic empowerment, criminal justice, policing, immigration, voting rights.

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Anyway, Harris being viciously attacked by Bernie bros just shows how stupid was her decision to support Sanders's single payer bill in hope of being spared this treatment.
She should've known that these cultists only care for their God Emperor King and will not hesitate to smear and slander every other Democratic candidate even if their positions are identical with Saint Bernie's.

She expressed support for Medicare for all long before she became senator. And just reiterated her support in her speech today.

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Kamala Harris has a lot of problems. She isn't really that progressive, she already seems to have lost a lot of black youth from what I'm seeing. Democrats need to juice turnout and she's not the one to do o IMO. This is not the candidate Democrats need if they want to win. She doesn't have any natural base. She also seems like she would repel Midwest voters.
 
 I think if she gets black female support she could win the primary but her candidacy seems to be arranged by wealthy donors more than having any kind of grassroots momentum.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=312294.0

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Kamala Harris has a lot of problems. She isn't really that progressive, she already seems to have lost a lot of black youth from what I'm seeing. Democrats need to juice turnout and she's not the one to do o IMO. This is not the candidate Democrats need if they want to win. She doesn't have any natural base. She also seems like she would repel Midwest voters.
 
 I think if she gets black female support she could win the primary but her candidacy seems to be arranged by wealthy donors more than having any kind of grassroots momentum.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=312294.0

How could I forget Harris' popularity in the crucial swing state of Oakland.

Ok let’s compare her to Hillary then, despite a much bigger name recognition Hillary had a sh**t launch crowd in NY and her rallies were generally reliant on big pop stars performing in order to draw a really big crowd. When she went solo I think her highest attended rally was around 10000.. Recently Iowa dems noted that Kamala drew a far larger crowd than Hillary. Even Obamas launch crowd was smaller ( 17 000) although he later drew huge crowds of course.   
Only Bernie will beat her launch crowd imo when he launches and maybe Beto if he runs.

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The “Kamala is doing badly with young black men” take is really just based off of Twitter comments and other social media reactions. Until the Iowa caucus or some serious polling on the issue comes out; its all just baseless

 I'm not basing any of my opinions on social media, I don't have any social media accounts. I am basing it on talking to people.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/28/politics/kamala-harris-polling-2020-campaign/index.html
December poll showed her highest favourability ratings where among African Americans and Latinos voters.

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Social media interactions with articles about
potential 2020 Trump opponents

Sen. Kamala Harris of California is leading the field of Democratic presidential candidates in capturing the public's attention during the opening wave of the 2020 campaign.

Why it matters: That puts Harris in a strong position to help set the Democratic primary agenda, much as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is doing for the House Democratic agenda.

The numbers from the past three months (Nov. 12–Feb. 12) say it all:

On Google, Harris was searched twice as often as Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who were next closest, according to Google Trends.

Instagram interactions, according to CrowdTangle:

Harris: 8.3 million
Sanders: 4.6 million
Warren: 2 million
Twitter interactions, according to CrowdTangle (combining Senate and personal accounts):

Harris: 14.4 million
Sanders: 8 million
Warren: 4.1 million
The exception is Facebook, where Sanders gets much of his clout, according to CrowdTangle (combining Senate and personal accounts):

Sanders: 22.1 million
Harris: 2.4 million
Warren: 2.3 million
In the past three months, articles about Harris have generated 16.5 million interactions on Facebook and from shares on influential Twitter accounts, according to social media analytics company NewsWhip.

That compares with 14.2 million for Warren and 10.6 million for Sanders.
Harris' follower growth across those platforms during the past three months has been striking:

On Facebook, her main account has added 123,000 fans, per CrowdTangle. The next closest jump among 2020 competitors is Beto O'Rourke with 51,000.
On Instagram, Harris has added 613,000 followers. The next closest spikes came from O'Rourke and Warren with 200,000 followers added.
On Twitter, she has added 420,000 followers. Next closest is O'Rourke with 245,000.
The big picture: The size of the major social media platforms makes for a useful barometer of public opinion and interest. They also signal a level of enthusiasm that is difficult to capture with traditional polling.

Yes, but: Early polling indicates former Vice President Joe Biden and Sanders have the highest favorables among 2020 Democrats. But, this early in the cycle, those numbers are often just a sign of name recognition.

Having already announced — or formed exploratory committees — Harris, Warren, and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar have benefited from announcement-driven spikes of interest. The others can expect that when it's their time — but Harris has dominated the attention well beyond her initial announcement.
The bottom line: President Trump showed in the 2016 campaign that the ability to generate attention and make the public care about you is a precious commodity. Maintaining that edge, more than fundraising totals or a ground game, could be the key for Harris in 2020.

https://www.axios.com/2020-presidential-election-kamala-harris-social-media-67d248ba-dee6-4e26-a77c-12df250d8bf9.html

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Does Abrams sudden interest indicate that some politicos think that Kamala's campaign and numbers are weaker than expected?  And I'm not saying this is the case... I'm genuinely wondering is this may be the case?

(granted although I actually think Abrams is a better politician & comes across as more authentic than Kamala & connects with voters better than Kamala... but having not yet been elected to (Senate/Congress/Governor/Cabinet/Big City Mayor) - her path in 2020 is that of Senator... which I think she can win)

I’d say it’s got more to do with Beto entering. I mean if he can why not Abrams?  Arguably as talented and a far better legislator.
Harris campaign seems to be in good shape so far. Shes pretty much where people excepted, in top tier but not the front runner at this point. The enthusiasm around her campaign is only rivalled by enthusiasm around Bernie and now Beto. 

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“Harris is a nothingburger, she’s going nowhere.”

Bernie dwarfed Hillary in crowd sizes and he still got blown out in the primary.

Harris isnt a household name like Clinton so it’s not comparable. Both her and Beto are the lesser known “upstarts” more comparable to Obama in 07.  And for Obama big crowds helped propel his campaign forward. Anyway I think it’s probably good for her that she’s considered an underdog.

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Kamala smashed Q1

$12 million raised

218K individual contributors

98% of contributions <$100
99% of contributors can donate again

That's fantastic!

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Not sure why people are pushing that Kamala is a national figure. Yes, is she one of the better known national dems? Sure, but still not a lot. Just look at all of the polls going on -- even her score of "Don't Know" is still pretty high among even DEMOCRATS, let alone all voters.

Her candidacy and supposed popularity is more of a media creation than anything else.  Besides being an identity politics candidate from the most "coastal elitist" city in the country (besides NYC of course), what does she have to offer as a future President?

I mean I like the guy but as a Beto supporter it’s pretty ridiculous to call anyone else a media creation. This is a guy who had a vanity fair cover and an HBO documentary to coincide with his launch. If anyone is getting the Hollywood treatment it’s him.  Hes getting far more press than anyone else running.
In the past week, Beto O’Rourke got the most coverage of any candidate on cable news, with Kamala Harris, Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker all at least 95 mentions behind.
Jay Inslee, Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard got next to no coverage.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-2020-democrat-got-the-most-cable-news-attention-last-week/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

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Not sure why people are pushing that Kamala is a national figure. Yes, is she one of the better known national dems? Sure, but still not a lot. Just look at all of the polls going on -- even her score of "Don't Know" is still pretty high among even DEMOCRATS, let alone all voters.

Her candidacy and supposed popularity is more of a media creation than anything else.  Besides being an identity politics candidate from the most "coastal elitist" city in the country (besides NYC of course), what does she have to offer as a future President?

Is anyone who’s not a white male going to be referred to as an identity politics candidate? Are non-white, non-male candidates not supposed to speak about how their experience as a part of a historically marginalized community has shaped their perspectives on issues?

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Rolled out this yesterday with Katie Porter. It’s a reintroduction of a bill from 2017.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and freshman Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) are teaming up on legislation to hold banks and Wall Street executives accountable.

The bill, the Accountability for Wall Street Executives Act, would allow for state attorneys general and state law enforcement to conduct oversight of national banks regarding compliance with state law, including giving them the ability to issue subpoenas to examine bank records and interview bank executives.

The goal of the legislation is to deter the conditions that, experts say, led to the subprime mortgage crisis in the late aughts. And none of the major banks would be immune. Deutsche Bank, which is now under criminal investigation for possible money-laundering lapses including allegedly suspicious activities linked to entities tied to Donald Trump, would be subject to subpoenas if there was reason to believe that it too was not complying with state financial protection laws, according to a Harris aide.

“As a former attorney general, I know firsthand how vital it is for state law enforcement to have the tools needed to conduct thorough investigations in order to hold bad actors accountable,” Harris, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said in a statement. “Congress must act to restore authority to state attorneys general to conduct oversight of national banks and ensure their compliance under state law. This bill will help put in place an additional layer of accountability for banks, which will protect consumers and prevent the type of illegal behavior that caused the Great Recession.”
The legislation seeks to amend a 2009 Supreme Court decision which determined that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a bureau within the Treasury Department, had exclusive rights to conduct oversight of federally chartered banks. It would enable state attorneys general to issue subpoenas for possible violations of real estate lending laws and ensure that federally-chartered banks comply with state financial protection laws in order to stave off the possibility of another subprime mortgage crisis.

Initially, the bill was introduced in the Senate in late 2017, but now it is bicameral and there are hopes that with Porter playing a prominent role in the House Committee on Financial Services, it can pass in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

“No bank should be Too Big to Jail,” Porter said in a statement. “I’m proud to join Senator Harris in introducing this bill that will empower law enforcement in every state to investigate banks for compliance with their state laws.”

Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are backing the bill as well.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kamala-harris-and-katie-porter-intro-bill-to-take-on-big-banks-including-trumps

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Completely dominated that stage tonight. Thought she might be good but she was way better than I expected.

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The Obama 2008 comparisons are laughable.

No one is at Obama 2008 level ( at least not yet) But Beto and Pete gets compared to everyone from JFK to Bill Clinton to Obama. She’s clearly just as talented as the Pete and Beto so I don’t see why it’s particularly laughable in relation to her. 
And it isn’t just Democrat who rate her, republicans strategists acknowledge her talent and for the record they are way more worried about her than warren (who they think will be trumps easiest opponent).
https://mobile.twitter.com/politico/status/1144420637445906432

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https://mobile.twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1144688884896403456

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Kamala Harris is Black. She is American citizen. She is of African descent.

She is not however a descendant of American slaves who came here 300 years ago. She is a descendant of recent immigrants who came here in living memory, one of whom wasn't even partially Black.

Her culture and ancestry are fundamentally different from the culture and ancestry of most African Americans.

It's a funny thing that the push for mass immigration and Affirmative Action started at the same time. This is not a coincidence.

When the government began to mandate diversity, most businesses did not want to hire American born Blacks, who were generally less educated. So they pushed the government to allow the elite of non-white countries to immigrate here so they could fill their diversity slots with them instead. Affirmative Action was thought up with African Americans in mind but most of the benefits went to Asian immigrants, the majority of whom came here in last 50 years and never experienced oppression from the US government.

Today the Democratic Party operates much the same way. They don't run members of America's historic Black population. They run the children of recent immigrants who were raised in Canada (Harris) or the children of foreign politicians (Obama).

This is going to go over many people's heads.

Not really. The post you quoted is full of inaccuracies.. She didn’t “grow up in Canada”... She lived in Oakland and Berkeley until she was 12 when her mother moved the family to Montreal because of work, where Harris attended high school.
In Berkeley the family lived in the flatlands on the west side which was a black neighbourhood at the time, while the hillside on the east was white. They attended baptist church and Harris later went  to Howard. Her parents were also involved in the civil rights movement.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Kamala-Harris-rode-the-buses-that-integrated-14060240.php#photo-17774467

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The problem is somebody is going to need to actually go after Kamala's criminal justice record and there aren't alot of people I can see credibly doing that. Biden no way with his vote for the crime bill and already sketchy record on civil rights. I don't see Warren going after any women in fact I have a feeling the women candidates have a peace pact. Pete doesn't have any credibility with the police shooting & Bernie voted for the crime bill. Maybe Booker? But both seem close and have too much respect for each other.

Extremely risky for booker as Kamala has far more grassroots support and attacking her doesn’t guarantee him frontrunner status in fact it might backfire spectacularly if he’s seen as the one who damaged the only viable black candidate.

He has criticised Biden and brought up the crime bill a few days ago so my guess is he will go after Biden primarily, especially as in many ways booker is the most natural fit for the moderate Biden voter.

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The problem is somebody is going to need to actually go after Kamala's criminal justice record and there aren't alot of people I can see credibly doing that. Biden no way with his vote for the crime bill and already sketchy record on civil rights. I don't see Warren going after any women in fact I have a feeling the women candidates have a peace pact. Pete doesn't have any credibility with the police shooting & Bernie voted for the crime bill. Maybe Booker? But both seem close and have too much respect for each other.

Julian Castro?

Don't see him going hardcore on the item, but maybe has some street cred on the issue from his Civil Rights family background to get a good hit in on a debate, although obviously risky business going after one of the current front runners when you are only polling low digits, despite your name rec going up in everywhere, including many newer voters in Texas.....

Surprisingly Castro didn’t see a bump from attacking Beto, he was even down in some polls. People don’t really know him and if his introduction to a wider audience is as someone who attacks other democrats I am not sure that is helpful to his campaign.

Obviously someone will go at her record at some point but I don’t see who has to gain from it at this early stage expect maybe warren. But again I doubt the women will go after each other in the early stages.