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Capital B, one of Mirror Indy’s partners, provided this story about how the policies of the Harris-Waltz campaign would impact Black voters.
Kamala Harris has nearly done the impossible in under a month: Change the course of the race for the White House and revive a presidential campaign that had been running on fumes.
But the real work is just beginning. On Monday, Democratic National Committee delegates passed the party’s platform in a voice vote. The next test is winning in November and making these policies tangible in 2025, if elected. The themes are familiar, with a focus on reproductive rights, the working class, climate change, and infrastructure, among other things. The original platform was approved just days before President Joe Biden’s exit from the race and unveiled a day before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
And although Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are seeking to differentiate themselves from Biden, Harris is amplifying many of his policy proposals.
As we count down to Election Day, Capital B will be paying attention. In the meantime, here’s what we know about where Harris and Walz stand on issues that matter to Black Americans.
Economy
At a campaign stop in Raleigh, North Carolina, last week, Harris gave Americans a glimpse of her first policy plan to boost the economy and everyday Americans.
While her speech didn’t give specific details, Harris pledged to lower the cost of living for struggling Americans, especially in Black and brown communities, by limiting the costs of housing, food, and prescription drugs.
She also promised to tackle corporate price-gouging, much as she did as attorney general of California in the aftermath of the state’s housing crisis.
When the temporary childhood tax credit expired in 2021 and wasn’t renewed by lawmakers in Congress, Walz started his own version of the credit in the state. Since 2023, all Minnesota taxpayers with children have been able to receive “$1,750 per qualifying child, with no limit on the number of children claimed,” according to the bill.
More than 400,000 children have benefited.
Minnesota’s tax system has been rated “moderately progressive” by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for pulling more taxes from higher earners than from lower tax brackets.
Voting rights
Making meaningful progress on the voting rights front has been slow-going for the Biden-Harris administration, due largely to the thin majority that Democrats have in the U.S. Senate. (They lost their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections.)
Still, Harris has been a ferocious supporter of safeguarding the franchise, and has urged Congress to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. It’s named after the late civil rights leader Harris has described as “an American hero who dedicated his life to fighting for our nation’s highest ideals.”
The legislation would revive some of the protections of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 that have been eroded over the past decade, including the requirement that certain jurisdictions receive federal approval before changing their voting laws or procedures.
Walz has been a staunch defender of the ballot box as well.
In May, for instance, he signed the Minnesota Voting Rights Act. The legislation reestablishes private enforcement after an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last year restricted who can bring litigation under the federal Voting Rights Act.
“Democracy thrives when everyone’s voice is heard. Today, we’re ensuring a strong democracy by prioritizing accessibility and voter protections,” Walz said in a press release.
“With this bill, we are breaking barriers that stand in the way of voting, protecting fair democratic processes, and paving the way for Minnesota to continue to lead the nation in voter turnout.”
Labor and unions
Striking the core of the labor movement, Harris has picked up endorsements from practically all of the nation’s major unions. As vice president, the Biden-Harris administration has been revered as the “most pro-union” in history. Americans’ support for unions is at its highest in decades — making this support significant.
Much of the union-backing results from the Biden-Harris administration’s support of the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which outlined the most targeted investments to create jobs and uplift manufacturing since the New Deal era.
The only major union that has not endorsed the campaign is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, whose president spoke at the Republican National Convention last month. However, the Black caucus of the group has endorsed her campaign, citing the bipartisan infrastructure bill which passed under the Biden-Harris administration and outlined the most significant investment in building out and maintaining roads, bridges, electric grids, and public transit. (Still, Black workers remain under-employed in these industries.)
Harris’ campaign will aim to build on the Biden administration’s labor-friendly initiatives, like supporting the right to organize, improving workplace conditions, and advocating for fair wages. At a rally in Las Vegas, she addressed labor when she pledged to raise the minimum wage, and lifted a Trump plan to not tax tips. That sounds great, but neither Harris nor Walz has been specific about how much the federal minimum wage should be raised, or explained if minimum-wage workers can also earn untaxed tips.
As governor, Walz has also supported unionized construction workers by adding billions in funding that’ll repair the state’s infrastructure, and signed a labor bill that created wage theft protections.
Still, the Harris campaign has worked to reassure labor leaders — particularly those related to the transition to electric vehicles as well as solar and wind energy sources — that her administration will protect those jobs.
Criminal justice and policing
When it comes to the rule of law, voters don’t really know Harris’ stance since she launched the nation’s first “Back on Track” recidivism program in 2005 as district attorney of San Francisco, or stood behind death penalty cases as California’s attorney general. In those roles, Harris didn’t have executive powers like Walz has been able to evoke as a governor.
The state of Minnesota has opposed the death penalty since 1911, and Walz continued to follow suit. He was also able to revive the state’s Board of Pardons in 2021 by granting its first “full and absolute pardon” in over 30 years at the time. The Biden-Harris administration has commuted the sentences of over 100 people and issued more than two dozen pardons as of this month.
And from what we can tell, as a member of the 1% of elected Black women prosecutors, Harris may continue Biden’s effort to nominate more women and people of color to the federal bench. Walz has experience appointing firsts during his tenure as governor, too.
When it comes to police reform, as a senator, Harris was a co-author of the first draft of the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act — Biden pledged to sign it once it hit his desk. The package of legislation aims to reform law enforcement agencies with requirements that include creating a national database of law enforcement who are confirmed bad actors to prevent them from being rehired, and limit the use of qualified immunity — a huge factor that has stumped the bill from advancing in Congress for four years.
Weeks after Floyd’s death, Walz signed into law his state’s own police reform package that mirrors some reforms proposed in the federal bill, such as mandating the creation of a police misconduct database, and a team of police officers with mental health service training. He has also passed laws that legalized marijuana, and automatically expunge criminal histories for Minnesotans with “certain prior cannabis-related records.”
Rural issues
The Biden-Harris administration has shown some progress when it comes to rural issues, which include combating hospital closures. Despite millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan to assist health facilities and cover pandemic-related costs, 25% or more of rural hospitals nationwide are at risk of closing, while many others across Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas have shut their doors for good.
With Walz on the Democratic ticket, his hometown hunting and fishing background may rub off on rural voters. He was born in a small town in Nebraska, and has kept a low-profile majority of his political career to avoid political commentators and journalists trying to connect him with a catchy phrase like “Midwestern Dad.”
As Walz uses simple words like “weird” to describe their political opponents, it has connected with some voters. A former farmer in Red Wing, Minnesota, told The New York Times that Walz is “down to earth” and that the ticket needs someone “who can talk to people.”
But, building trust with farmers of color, particularly Black farmers, won’t be a small feat.
Black farmers’ support for the Biden-Harris administration waned after repeated attempts to fix past ills with the United States Department of Agriculture went unheard. However, earlier this month, the administration released $2.2 billion in financial assistance to farmers who faced historic discrimination, a program created under the Inflation Reduction Act. Days later, the USDA also announced changes to its loan programs to “increase opportunities for farmers and ranchers to be financially viable,” which farmers say is a step in the right direction, but there’s still more work to do.
Climate
In many ways, Harris has been one of the leading voices behind the legislative work driving climate and environment policy.
As a senator, she sponsored the Green New Deal, which was by far the most progressive climate policy introduced at the federal level. Although the bill never passed, it outlined elements of reparations for Black, brown, and Indigenous people who bear the brunt of extreme weather and environmental injustices. It also would’ve laid the groundwork for a quick, intense energy and economy transformation, including 100% clean energy production within a decade.
As vice president, she has shied away from acknowledging her work on the Green New Deal. However, she cast the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the most expansive climate-related spending bill in history. The law outlines around half a trillion dollars over the next decade to help wean the country off fossil fuels through targeted infrastructure and job investments.
As governor of Minnesota, Walz led the state in adopting some of the strongest clean energy policies in the nation, including strict car pollution rules and a 2040 goal for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Some of his policies have been replicated across the country at the state level and included in the Biden administration’s federal approach. However, as a congressman representing a rural Minnesota district, his climate and environment votes typically strayed from mainstream Democrats and oftentimes aligned with conservatives. Most notably, he voted in favor of one of the largest oil and gas pipelines in the world and repeatedly voted to expand oil and gas drilling in the oceans around the U.S.
Although Harris ran on climate policies that were more progressive than Biden’s during the 2020 Democratic primary, the campaign has signaled that it will not shift from the Biden administration’s main climate policies, including its historic focus on environmental justice and cleaning up pollution in Black communities. A Harris-Walz administration would have its work cut out after a series of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings made it easier for polluters to challenge some of the recently passed climate policies.
Reproductive health
For months, Harris has been the voice of the administration on reproductive justice. At the start of the year, she set off on a “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, traveling around the country to underscore the importance of protecting the right to abortion.
“I think it is clear. If Donald Trump were to win in November, he will continue to sell out working families, he will continue to attack reproductive freedom, and he will continue to undermine our democracy,” she said at a campaign stop in North Carolina last month. “The question we face is: What kind of country do we want to live in? Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?”
Limiting the right to abortion would especially burden Black women, who receive a third of all abortions in the U.S. and are three times as likely as their white counterparts to die from pregnancy-related issues, as Capital B has previously reported.
Walz, too, has been a fierce advocate of reproductive justice, including access to in vitro fertilization.
He has forged connections with crowds on the campaign trail by making clear that this is a personal issue to him and his wife: It was only because of IVF that they were able to have their daughter, aptly named Hope.
Some Republican-controlled states have attacked IVF, even though 6 in 10 Americans want to bolster access, a June AP-NORC poll found, and infertility disproportionately affects Black women.
Additionally, Walz has enacted a law that enshrines reproductive freedom, including the right to reproductive health care, into the Minnesota constitution. And while he’s been in the governor’s mansion, the state has repealed abortion-related restrictions — the 24-hour waiting period for anyone seeking an abortion, for instance.
Education
Prior to Walz becoming governor, senator, and serving in the National Guard, he was a high school teacher and football coach. Turning his back on education wouldn’t have made sense once he entered into political office.
Last year, Walz signed a bill into law that increased public spending on education, and made school breakfasts and lunches free for all students regardless of their parents’ or guardians’ socioeconomic status. Minnesota is one of eight states to offer free meals regardless of income.
Harris may not have as much experience in the classroom as Walz, but she has advocated for increasing funding for Head Start programs; closing the wage gap between teachers and other professions that require a college education; supporting free tuition for four-year degrees for lower- and middle-income families; and has prosecuted child sexual predators.
Capital B Staff Writers Christina Carrega, Brandon Tensley, Aallyah Wright, and Adam Mahoney contributed to this report.
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