If Harris wins, she will weigh in on Democrats in Congress

WASHINGTON – If the Democratic nominee is Kamala Harris Once elected president, he would soon try to make deals with his former Capitol Hill colleagues.

Harris spent four years He represents California, the nation’s most populous state, in the U.S. Senate. His former Senate colleagues and new House supporters told USA TODAY: Time served in Congress He is short in stature, has strong relationships that could be crucial to advancing his legislative agenda in a political environment in which he has just been defeated. Donald Trump but they can still expect to face stiff opposition from Republicans.

Harris’ star She rose through the Senate as a lawmaker eager to show off her prosecutorial skills: In 2018, she went viral when she grilled now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings.

Then-President Trump in question it was “extraordinarily bad” at the time. And a snippet of that speech has become a frequently cited campaign material for Democrats working on abortion rights this cycle: Harris asks Kavanaugh Whether he could name “any law that gives the government the authority to make decisions about the male body.”

Harris returned to the Senate relatively frequently during the first two years of the Biden administration, when the chamber was evenly divided. cast a tie-breaking vote More often than any other vice president in American history.

Since launching his presidential campaign this summer, he has enlisted a legion of House members as surrogates, drawing in lawmakers who feel like it. kept at arm’s length By the Biden campaign and those who can’t find Harris easy to reach It was when he was a senator.

Harris has years of experience with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and also has a long-standing relationship with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, first established through the Congressional Black Caucus. Jeffries, himself a New Yorker, is well positioned to become House speaker if Democrats regain control of the chamber next year and remain minority leader if the GOP prevails.

Even if Democrats win both chambers, Harris will still have some obstacles to achieving big things. The legislation would need to clear a 60-vote threshold created by opponents who are threatening to use the Senate filibuster; but Harris also said she would support a vote while on the campaign trail. Historical change in procedure law that allows exceptions on important issues such as abortion rights. If Republicans win both chambers, as they are expected to win in the Senate, they will have to broker deals to pass key legislation and will likely face aggressive oversight from conservative lawmakers and obstacles to confirming their appointees for Cabinet roles and filling vacancies in the judiciary.

Harris’ current boss, President Joe Biden, can be described as a creature of the Senate, and certainly strengthened his decades-long career In the upper room when I lived in the White House. Harris’ allies say she will bring new perspectives and a fresh approach to dealing with Congress.

Senate allies

Some of Harris’ most trusted Democratic partners joined the Senate in 2017, the same year she did: Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.

Cortez Masto and Harris had an old friendship that formed when they were both attorneys general. couple Lawsuit filed against big banks It won a $20 billion settlement following the 2008 financial crisis.

“Then we got to know each other, we trusted each other, just like each other,” said Cortez Masto, who was a regular surrogate for Harris during the campaign and helped vet potential vice presidential candidates.

Harris is often cited as one of her closest allies on the Hill, as is Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., with whom she serves on the Judiciary Committee, Senate President Pro Tempore and Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, who was California secretary of state when Harris was in the Senate and replaced her when she became vice president, is Sen. Alex Padilla, who was a policy adviser to Harris in her 2019 campaign. She remains a good friend, as does Laphonza Butler. but will leave the chamber in November after declining to run for a full term in the Senate.

And if she wins the tightly contested race against former Gov. Larry Hogan for the Senate seat representing Maryland, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks would bring a friendship with Harris to the chamber. started 14 years ago While Harris was district attorney in San Francisco. Harris called Alsobrooks to congratulate him on winning the race for state attorney in Maryland’s Prince George’s County.

Harris continues to have a good relationship with Schumer, who made an exception to help her sit on the Judiciary selection committee, although another California senator, the late Dianne Feinstein, also served on the panel. That allowed Harris to draw on her prosecutorial background during fights over Trump’s eventual first-term Supreme Court nominees..

As vice president, Harris also maintained contact with Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Mark Warner, who was the panel’s top Democrat during Harris’ tenure.

“I think he will come away with an appreciation that you need to work with Congress,” the Virginia Democrat said. “It will come with relationships, but it will also come with a willingness to roll up your sleeves.”

Warner said he had established positive relationships with Republicans on the committee, but did not want to “put them in a difficult position” by naming names: “They might have to say otherwise right now.”

Harris organized a group. GOP campaign surrogates and promised to appoint a Republican to his Cabinet. He may find Republican allies among moderates in the Senate who do not support Trump: Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, with whom he serves on the Intelligence Committee, and Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Todd Young, R-Ind. and Bill Cassidy, R-La.

Former Sen. Jeff Flake, Ariz., who now serves as the Biden-appointed U.S. ambassador to Turkey, said he and Harris are working on efforts to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which temporarily protects illegally deported youth from deportation. reminded. He was brought to the United States as a child.

Congress still hasn’t found a solution to improve the nation’s immigration system, but Flake said of Harris: “She understands that this can only happen in a bipartisan way.”

Dynasty allies

Harris’ list of congressional friends favors the Senate, but she still has close ties in the lower chamber she can rely on.

She has ties to Jeffries during her time as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and if Democrats take the House and the White House, they would be a historic matchup as the first Black House Speaker and the first female president. Harris is also the current President Rep. Steven Horsford, D.N.V. He also maintained contact with several members of the group, including.

Harris is also the House co-chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif. He also established a good relationship with and was the leader of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus during his time in Congress. Horsford invited Barragan and Rep. Judy Chu, a California Democrat and caucus chair, to the meeting. sit in his box during his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Democratic rising stars Reps. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, Nikema Williams, D-Ga., all consider Harris a mentor.

Crockett said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention that he wasn’t sure he made the right choice to run for the House of Representatives when he came to Washington in January 2023. When he first met Harris as vice president, he said: “She saw right through me. He saw the trouble. I immediately started crying. And the strongest woman in the world wiped my tears and listened.”

Harris is also a long term mentor To organizer Lateefah Simon, who is certain to win the Bay Area congressional race and head to the House of Representatives next year.

And he has chosen staffers with deep ties to the House of Representatives: As vice speaker, his director of legislative affairs is Andy Flick, executive director of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, a key bloc of the Democratic caucus.

Senate allies

Dynasty allies

Related Posts