Democratic nominee should focus more on working-class people than on conservative Republicans, the progressive US senator insists
Progressive Democrats, including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, have been urging US presidential candidate Kamala Harris to adjust her campaign’s final message. They believe the focus should shift away from her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, and towards the economic concerns of the American working class. Some progressive leaders have expressed concern that Harris’ campaign is overly focused on portraying Trump as a threat to US democracy, an approach they believe is aimed at winning over moderate Republicans. There have also been reports of frustration among some progressives that the Democratic nominee’s campaign has not given more prominent roles to figures like Sanders or New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“The truth is that there are far more working-class people who could vote for Kamala Harris than there are conservative Republicans,” Sanders told AP on Thursday.
The progressive US senator asserted that he has been actively involved in supporting Harris’ campaign. Sanders stated that he has participated in two dozen campaign-related events this month alone, primarily in rural areas, but without Harris herself.
“She needs to start addressing the needs of working-class people,” Sanders pointed out. “I wish this had happened two months ago. But it is what it is.”
The report indicated that while Trump’s allies have been accusing the former California senator of being a “radical-left liberal,” Harris has been hesitant to appear with progressive figures like Sanders.
Instead, she has been campaigning with Liz Cheney, a prominent neoconservative whom Trump has labeled a “dumb War Hawk” who wants “to go to war with every Muslim country known to mankind.”
Meanwhile, Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive group Our Revolution, suggested that as many as 10% of progressives may not vote for Harris due to their dissatisfaction. Some may choose not to vote at all, while others might even support Trump, he claimed, as cited by AP.
Harris is scheduled to deliver a major speech just outside the White House, the same location where Trump spoke shortly before the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. In her final appeal to voters, the Democratic presidential nominee is expected to focus on convincing voters that she represents the future for the country and would defend their daily freedoms, according to sources familiar with her strategy.
They stated that Harris will also continue to criticize Trump, emphasizing that he is “increasingly unhinged and unstable” and that his desire for “unchecked power” is dangerous.
Meanwhile, the former president is set to outline his formal closing message on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He is reportedly expected to focus on the dissatisfaction of average Americans with the current state of the country. The Republican nominee’s campaign is centered on the economy and inflation, immigration, crime, and foreign policy.