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duced several bills that had little chance of passing but were nevertheless symbolic, including Medicare-for-all and other health-care reform plans. She introduced bills aimed at reducing racial disparities in health care, the economy and the criminal justice system.
Support flagged, pulled down by shifting campaign messages that never seemed to click with the candidate or voters. The energy around her campaign dissipated, and she could never dislodge deep-rooted Black support for Biden, which limited her ability to expand her base.
Harris was just two years into her Senate tenure — but at the top of the candidate list — when Democrats started speculating about who would be best positioned to run against Trump in 2020. Then, at a moment when the Democrats were grappling with how best to represent their increasingly diverse coalition, many party members found a flaw in Harris, who — as a child of immigrants, an HBCU graduate and a woman — had seemed like a good fit.
When her campaign ran out of money in early December, Harris abruptly withdrew from the race. Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who urged Biden to pick a Black woman as his running mate, said he “made it very clear that putting a Black woman on the ticket would be a great thing to do.” Harris was one of several Black women Biden considered, including Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Harris and Biden once were at odds on criminal justice issues. Finding common ground helped lead him to pick her as his running mate. Her record as a prosecutor became the subject of intense scrutiny, with key voting blocs — young Black men, older Black
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voters and far-left voters — concluding in significant numbers that she had not done enough to combat systemic racism in the criminal justice system when she had the power to do so. Allies argued that Harris was ahead of her time in reducing marijuana convictions, creating a reentry program for nonviolent offenders and trying to use the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office to address other social issues like truancy.
NOVEMBER I 2020
When he chose Harris in August, the decision was met with tremendous enthusiasm. The campaign raised $34.2 million in the two days after she was added to the ticket. Source: The Washington post
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