VP Kamala Harris unveils her economic agenda during speech in battleground NC
In her first visit to North Carolina since her elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris outlined how she plans to address a key, enduring issue for voters: the rising cost of living.
As she faces questions about what her economic platform will look like, and whether and in which ways it’ll differ from the policies of the Biden administration, Harris delivered her first major policy address since becoming her party’s nominee in Raleigh on Friday.
Harris announced a number of new policies to deal with high food, prescription drug, and housing costs, including proposals to impose the first-ever federal ban on “corporate price gouging” in the food and grocery industries, provide up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance for first-time home buyers, and expand the child tax credit to provide middle- and low-income families with more financial relief.
Harris’s return to North Carolina to unveil the broad points of her economic agenda, just before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday, marks her eighth trip to the battleground state this year.
Former President Donald Trump, who won the state in 2016 and 2020, but only by 1.3% the second time, campaigned on his economic plans in Asheville on Wednesday.
Harris stops off at a Raleigh store
Updated 4:55 p.m.: Before heading to the airport to return to Washington, Harris made a stop at Bayleaf Market in Raleigh, which a press pool report described as an art gallery and artisanal store.
Gov. Roy Cooper and his daughter, Hilary, joined Harris at the store, where they talked to the owner. Harris told the pool reporter, Spectrum’s Reuben Jones, that she bought pickles, barbecue sauce and fig preserves.
Around two dozen pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside
Updated 3 p.m.: As Harris spoke to the invite-only crowd inside the venue, about two dozen people holding Palestinian flags and signs with messages like, “Kamala Harris, there’s blood on your hands” gathered outside to protest the administration’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
A press release from the local organizers of the protest targeted the recently formed Harris-Walz campaign, saying it lacks “a commitment to end US arms sales to Israel during this genocide.”
Samira Haddad, one of the local organizers, said she wants Harris to do more than call for a cease-fire in the war. She wants the Democratic presidential nominee to stop providing arms to Israel.
The protest on Friday comes a few days after the Biden-Harris administration approved more than $20 billion in arms sales to Israel.
“She’s not really any better,” Haddad said. “It’s really pretty much the same thing under a different name. And she’s overseen the past 10 months, so she is responsible for it just as much as Joe Biden is.”
Haddad, who has lived in Raleigh for more than 25 years and graduated from N.C. State, is a second-generation Palestinian refugee.
“This is an issue that impacts me deeply because I know what it means to be displaced,” she said.
Haddad has always voted Democrat, but she says at this point, she will either vote for a third-party candidate in November — or not at all.
“I’ve been voting Democrat and I have not seen any change or any improvement, especially when it comes to this,” she said. “Some people are saying this is a one-issue thing. It’s not only a one-issue thing, it impacts a lot of things. It’s a basic principle.”
As the event concluded, protesters chanted and yelled “shame” at the steady stream of attendees heading to the parking lot. “Democrats, you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide,” they chanted.
Harris shares plans to address ‘price gouging’ and housing shortage
Updated 2:45 p.m.: Going through her economic plan, Harris focused much of her speech on corporations and businesses that resist competition in the marketplace, exploit crises to increase profits, and don’t “play by the rules.”
Touching on her call for a federal ban on price gouging in the food and grocery industries, Harris said that many big food companies have been seeing their highest profits in the last two decades.
“I know most businesses are creating jobs, contributing to our economy and playing by the rules — but some aren’t,” Harris said.
She said her plan to address price gouging will include “new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises,” but did not offer any more details about how the proposal will work, or how she plans to push for such a policy in a divided Congress.
Mentioning Trump’s visit days earlier to Asheville to speak about his own economic agenda, Harris said her opponent “offered no serious plans,” and said Trump’s policies would benefit billionaires and large corporations.
While talking about her plan to increase the housing supply and lower rental and housing costs across the country, Harris criticized corporate investors and landlords who purchase properties and “collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices.”
“It’s anti-competitive and it drives up costs,” Harris said. “I will fight for a law that cracks down on these practices.”
Harris said she’ll call for the construction of 3 million new homes, and provide $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time home buyers.
Harris says her vision is ‘focused on the future’
Updated 2:30 p.m.: Introduced by Mike De Los Santos, owner of Mike D’s BBQ in Durham, Harris walked out to loud applause, and said she was glad to return to North Carolina for her eighth visit to the state this year, and her 16th visit since taking office in 2021.
Harris immediately started talking about the vision of her campaign, and contrasted it with her opponent’s, saying her campaign is focused on the future, and Trump’s is focused on the past.
She touted the Biden-Harris administration’s steering of the economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, but said that many Americans “don’t yet feel that progress in their daily lives.”
“Costs are still too high, and on a deeper level, no matter how much they work, it feels too hard to get ahead,” Harris said.
As president, Harris said she will build what she calls an “opportunity economy” where “everyone can compete and have a real chance to succeed.” Harris said she will cut “needless bureaucracy and unnecessary regulatory red tape,” and “bring together labor with small business and major companies to invest in America.”
Cooper: Harris has ‘ignited a firestorm of excitement’
Updated 2 p.m.: Gov. Roy Cooper, taking the stage to big applause from the crowd, said he was excited to welcome Harris back to the state again, and said he had “that 2008 feeling,” referencing the last time Democrats won North Carolina in a presidential election.
Cooper noted the significance of Harris choosing to announce the broad tenets of her economic agenda in North Carolina, and said she had “ignited a firestorm of excitement,” echoing a widespread sentiment among Democratic elected officials and voters alike in the weeks since Harris ascended to the top of the ticket.
The term-limited governor, who declined to be considered as Harris’ running mate but plans to campaign for her across the state and wherever the campaign asks him to throughout the rest of the battleground map, emphasized a theme of Harris’ economic message, saying that corporations have been prioritizing their profits at the expense of consumers.
“Kamala Harris — she is not having it,” Cooper said.
Cooper also criticized Trump’s economic platform, and noted that during his own economy-focused speech in Asheville on Wednesday, the Republican former president said he wasn’t sure if the economy was the biggest issue for voters, suggesting that illegal immigration across the southern border may be the top issue instead.
Before Cooper spoke, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, who is running to succeed Cooper in the governor’s mansion, addressed the crowd.
Stein said that even though North Carolina is one of the fastest growing states in the country, “economic success is not being evenly shared,” and too many people are struggling to pay rent and afford necessities.
He touted his own record as attorney general, saying he had held companies accountable for price gouging, and taken pharmaceutical manufacturers to court for allegedly fixing the prices of prescription drugs.
Stein also said his opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, would be “bad for people” and “bad for business.”
Avoid possible traffic problems
Updated 1:55 p.m.: Harris landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport at 12:39 p.m., and arrived at Wake Tech Community College’s North Campus at 1:25 p.m., according to a press pool report.
Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein were among those greeting her at the airport. Stein and Cooper then spoke to the crowd awaiting Harris at Wake Tech’s Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence.
Raleigh police warned drivers to “expect closures and delays along the motorcade route from RDU to the campaign site” off U.S. 401. The most logical route between RDU and Wake Tech is Interstate 540 to the exit for U.S. 401, which is also Louisburg Road.
Harris is scheduled to depart RDU at 4:50 p.m.
Harris supporters and voters glad to hear her economic agenda
Updated 1:30 p.m.: Sam Bohmer, a 21-year-old college student and communications director for the UNC-Chapel Hill Young Democrats, said the change in the top of the ticket was a “shot in the arm” for Democrats.
“I had people who were planning on staying home text me as soon as it was announced that she was running (that) they were gonna knock doors and do everything they could to get her elected,” he said. “I think it’s definitely a vibe shift for young people.”
Bohmer said he thought Harris’ focus on home ownership would be an energizing issue for young voters.
”I worry that I’m not going to be able to afford a home,” he said. “Doing stuff to incentivize the building of supply, to drive down costs and some of the incentives for home ownership is really important. I think it’s meeting young people where they are.”
Erin McLaughlin, who’s a junior at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, but grew up in Raleigh, voted for Biden in 2020 but feels energized by Harris’ nomination. She came to the event in Raleigh to see what the vice president had to say.
“North Carolina is a really important state in this election, so I am excited,” she said. “It’s nice to be seen.”
Deborah Holder, a Raleigh voter who owns six McDonalds franchises in the area, said that as a business owner, she was encouraged to hear that Harris’ first policy speech would focus on the economy.
”The thing that we can worry about is commodity costs going up and those types of pressures will cause our costs to go up somewhat — it’s a balancing act,” she said. “I’m hoping that with some legislation, they’ll keep in mind these small businesses and really try to do some things to help boost the economy and to help boost small businesses.”
The stage is set for Harris’s major policy address in Raleigh
Updated 1 p.m.: Attendees have arrived at Wake Tech’s north campus in anticipation of Harris’s visit, including Democratic state Reps. Maria Cervania, Alison Dahle, and Julie von Haefen, and Sen. Lisa Grafstein, all of whom represent Wake County in the legislature, and Durham Sen. Mike Woodard.
Gov. Roy Cooper, who plans to be a major surrogate for Harris during the campaign this fall, is also expected to speak.
Risers have been set up behind and around a podium in the center of the automotive warehouse where Harris will make her speech.
Screens display photos of her and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. A banner behind the podium reads “Opportunity economy lowering your costs.”
RNC, NCGOP leaders and Trump campaign slam Harris’s economic plans
Updated 12:45 p.m.: Republican leaders gathered at Prime Barbecue in Knightdale on Friday morning to discuss Trump’s economic platform and counteract Harris’s newly released policy proposals on housing, price gouging and more.
Michael Whatley, chair of the Republican National Committee, in front of a group of about 20 GOP supporters, spoke about half an hour just before noon on the need to secure the southern border and curb hostilities and wars across the world.
But he honed in on the economy, saying that “when you talk to North Carolina families, when you talk to families all across this country, the No. 1 issue is the economy, it’s inflation.”
North Carolinians are “spending more and we’re taking home less, and that is why this is such a huge, huge issue in this election cycle,” he said.
As for Trump’s plan to curb inflation, Trump would extend tax cuts Republicans enacted in 2017 and end taxes on tips, “which is going to be very helpful for people who work in a restaurant just like this,” he said, signaling his surroundings.
Whatley also highlighted Trump’s proposals on energy, which were touched on in his recent Asheville rally.
As for Harris’s proposal on cost controls, Whatley said that idea is “absolutely misguided” considering “there is no price gouging. Food costs more to go into the grocery store. The grocery stores have to charge more.”
Jason Simmons, the chair of the N.C. GOP, said Trump came to the state to “talk about his economic policies, to be able to lower taxes, reduce regulations and to be able to spur economic developments by unleashing America’s energy independence.”
From Harris, we’re going to hear today “more regulations, more taxes and controlling prices, Soviet-style policies,” he said.
The Trump campaign echoed those attacks, saying in a statement earlier on Friday that Harris is going “full communist” with her economic plan.
In particular, the campaign slammed the proposed federal ban on price gouging in the food and grocery industries that Harris is expected to call for later Friday.
“It’s hard to overstate how disastrous of an idea it is to let D.C. bureaucrats dictate the price of groceries in cities, suburbs, and rural communities across the country — dismantling necessary supply-and-demand signals of the free market and ultimately leading to higher prices for consumers,” the campaign said.
Harris expected to unveil much of her economic platform in Raleigh
Updated 12 p.m.: After facing questions about what her policy platform will look like, Harris is planning to announce several major parts of her economic plan to address the high cost of living during her speech in Raleigh on Friday.
Harris’s campaign is touting the proposals the vice president will unveil today as “bold actions” she plans to take to “address some of the sharpest pain points American families are confronting and bolster their financial security.”
One of the first policies her campaign previewed this week is a proposal to impose a federal price gouging ban on the food and grocery industries.
The campaign said Harris will do this by “setting clear rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries,” and “securing new authority” for the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to “investigate and impose harsh penalties” on corporations “that choose to break these rules.”
Ahead of her speech, Harris’s campaign indicated that she will take aim at companies that have rebounded after the pandemic and seen production costs level off and profits increase, but have “nevertheless kept prices high” and failed to pass along savings to consumers.
The campaign said that while it’s normal for prices to fluctuate, Harris “recognizes there is a big difference between fair pricing and the excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business that Americans have seen in the food and grocery industry.”
The other policy proposals the campaign previewed before her visit seek to address rental and housing costs, the housing supply, prescription drug prices, medical debt, and tax cuts for middle-class families.
In a statement praising Harris and her “worker-focused agenda” on Friday morning, NC AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan said that working families across the state “are sick and tired of struggling to survive on wages that barely cover housing and necessities, while companies price-gouge us just to pad their profits so CEOs can cut themselves massive checks.”
McMillan said that the Harris campaign “knows what working people need are policies that will lower their costs, protect their wallets from rampant corporate greed, and help them save more of their hard-earned dollars.”
Multiple polls have shown that inflation and the economy are top issues for voters here and across the country. The annual inflation rate is currently at 2.9%, the lowest since March 2021, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Labor this week.
During his speech in Asheville on Wednesday, Trump blamed inflation that reached a 40-year high in 2022 on the Biden-Harris administration, and said his plan for the economy would focus on improving affordability and tackling supply chain issues, the Charlotte Observer reported. He also pledged to cut energy costs by 50% or more within his first 12 to 18 months in office by rolling back the current administration’s clean energy policies, and scaling up domestic oil production.
Trump had maintained a consistent lead over President Joe Biden in North Carolina in recent months, but new polling in the last few weeks has shown Harris erasing much of that advantage, and a poll from the Cook Political Report conducted July 26 to Aug. 2 and released this week found her registering a slight lead, well within the margin of error, over Trump.
An average of recent North Carolina polls collected by RealClearPolitics, however, shows Trump with a lead of 2.4 percentage points over Harris. Those polls were all conducted between July 19 and Aug. 8.
This story was originally published August 16, 2024 at 9:57 AM with the headline "VP Kamala Harris unveils her economic agenda during speech in battleground NC."
