As California politics junkies, we’ve watched as presidential primary polling has fluctuated and recently, Sen. Kamala Harris looks like she’s taken a bit of a dive in the polls. Mostly, that seems to be attributable to Sen. Elizabeth Warren getting ahead of the pack in calling for President Trump’s impeachment– arguably the best-ever example of adopting a policy position just to curry favor with the base. But if you’re a right-leaning reporter at DC’s National Journal (check out said reporter’s Twitter feed), it’s evidence of Harris pandering to the base, even though she’s appeared far, far less tempted to do that than has Warren. Questionable takes are… questionable. Credit: @McDeereUSA Over to National Journal: If there was a primary for the most self-destructive presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California would be the front-runner of the 2020 field. Instead of leveraging her profile as a pragmatic prosecutor who has distinguished herself…
With the entry of former Vice President Joe Biden into the 2020 presidential race, Sen. Kamala Harris’ luster has been a little lacking lately. But she’s grabbing attention this morning with a volley at gender-discriminating corporate America with a brand new proposal to fine them if they don’t pay men and women equally. From the Wall Street Journal: Sen. Kamala Harris is proposing that large employers pay women on an equal basis with their male counterparts or face government fines, seeking a sweeping shift in the way the nation addresses pay inequity. The Democratic presidential candidate released a plan Monday that would put the burden on companies to demonstrate that they are not engaging in pay discrimination. Ms. Harris’s campaign said companies would be fined 1% of their profits for every 1% wage gap they allow to continue for work of equal value. The campaign estimated that the plan would…
It might not be a surprise that Sen. Kamala Harris would be bringing in a boatload of cash from Californians as she runs for President. But a quickie analysis shows that she is not merely besting the competition; she’s trouncing it. Moreover, that analysis shows surprisingly low enthusiasm for Sen. Bernie Sanders among Californians, at least as gauged by donations from Golden Staters. In the first quarter of the year, Harris raised an eye-popping $4.3 million from Californians. Sanders, the national frontrunner managed $780,000; Sen. Cory Booker, who national polling suggests is not even approaching “real contender” status also bested Sanders with $870,000 from California. The numbers underline that despite the perception of California as a hard-left “people’s republic,” progressive but not actually leftist candidates who are younger and, well, less white and male show stronger appeal here. This is little surprise to everyone who expected Hillary Clinton to win…
Sen. Kamala Harris is making a big play for union support in her run for President, focusing principally on education and childcare workers. Teachers’ unions have been financially hammered by the Supreme Court decision in Janus and are shopping for a vocal candidate they can get behind and support, ideally one who will not only push pro-labor policy but also use the bully pulpit to advocate for their members’ interests. With her proposal to massively bump teacher pay through federal funding, Harris could be it. As noted yesterday, in the first quarter of 2019, her presidential campaign took in at least 11,000 donations from educators. Now, it looks like she’s making a play for pro-union child care workers, too, backing a proposal to unionize them. This should further endear her to organized labor, which is a powerful ally in Democratic Party politics not just because of its organizing and door-knocking…
The numbers are in, and Sen. Kamala Harris raised an eye-popping $12 million in her first quarter as a presidential candidate. Harris’ campaign told the New York Times that “more than $6 million of her fund-raising — about half of her total — came from her digital program, including $1.1 million in the last week.” In addition, Harris took in “218,000 contributions in total and that 98 percent of her contributions were under $100. Her average donation was about $55.” A lot of the money may be coming from teachers. Harris has called for a massive, federally-funded pay rise for teachers. Her campaign says at least 11,000 donations came from “educators,” a term that may include school administrators and teachers not operating within the public school system or teaching K-12.