Brat Summer’s Over. Kamala Harris’ Real Fight Begins.
As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare to face off in their first debate, Audley Associate Harri Adams asks: what are the Democratic candidate’s policies?
On Monday 2nd September, pop star Charli XCX bid “goodbye forever” to “brat summer.” What does this mean for Democrats’ presidential nominee Kamala Harris?
It was a summer of renewed optimism for the Democrat Party, after Vice President Kamala Harris stood in place of President Biden for November’s presidential election. For a time, it seemed it was enough for the VP to ride the wave of positive sentiment heralded by the ascendant pop phenomenon Charli, the artist behind 2024’s ‘brat summer’ trend who made waves online when she threw her cultural capital behind the vice president, stoking support for her campaign.
But now ‘brat summer’ is over according to its progenitor, and as the Autumn’s election draws closer, there is one question on everyone’s minds: what does Kamala Harris actually offer voters aside from ‘good vibes’?
As former President Barack Obama told the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August: “…for all the rallies and the memes … this will still be a tight race.” To understand the vision of a Kamala Harris presidency, Audley looks at the DNC; the ’24 Democratic Party Platform, which was voted on at the convention; and the policies released on the Vice President’s website on Sunday, grouped under the title, ‘A New Way Forward.’ We see where commitments align and where they noticeably diverge, suggesting where Kamala Harris may differ from her predecessor as President.
A ‘Not Trump’ Platform
President Biden made it to the highest seat in the US on the basis of his electability when compared with his predecessor; one could go so far as to argue, as some have, that “[the] raison d’etre for the twilight of his political career was to defeat Trump.”
With the former Republican president running again this year, the message to voters from the Democrats that they are “unanimous in [their] desire” to prevent another Trump presidency remains firm, even if their candidate has changed.
The party is so eager to convey this message that its platform is saturated in anti-Trump rhetoric; the former president is mentioned by name in the document 150 times. Similarly, for each policy pillar on Harris’ website, there is a section on ‘Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda,’ describing the rival candidate as a “convicted criminal” and “a threat to our fundamental rights and freedoms.”
Someone else – a group of people, in fact – is namechecked by the party platform and on the VP’s site: the ‘middle class.’ At the DNC, President Biden described this group as “the backbone of America” who “built” the United States, and according to her policy platform, “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of [Kamala Harris’] presidency.”
While also warning of the peril of another Trump presidency, the party platform and Harris’ policies are direct appeals to the American middle class. Therefore, it is necessary to ask who this group represents and why the Democrats wish to galvanise them as voters.
The Middle Class
According to Pew Research, “[j]ust over half of Americans (51%) are middle class,” if that group is defined roughly as “those earning between two-thirds and double the national median household income, after adjusting for household size.” The size of that group is sure to appeal to the ‘Dems.’
However, this group has shrunk over decades. Between 1970 and 2022, the median income of American upper-income households outgrew that of both middle-class and lower-income households, increasing by 78% ($144,100 to $256,900 approx.). The income of middle-class households grew 60% ($66,400 to $106,100) and lower-income households 55% ($22,800 to $35,300).
As Pew Research observe, there is consequently “a larger gap between the incomes of upper-income households and other households.” As a further consequence of this, a 2024 survey of 6,500 American adults conducted by the Survey Center on American Life and published by the American Enterprise Institute found that only 31% of respondents believed that the Democrats best represented middle-class interests. Meanwhile, only 29% felt Republicans represented the same group’s interests in 2024.
There is a marked difference between these results and those of a 1990 poll by ABC News and Washington Post, which found that 48% of Americans felt the Democrats best represented middle-class interests.
And so, it is incumbent on the Democrats to win back the favour of this social group and to prove, as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued on Day 2 of the DNC, that Kamala Harris is a leader who “‘understands the urgency of rent checks, and groceries, and prescriptions.”
Therefore, “bring[ing] down costs and increase[ing] economic security for all Americans” are given top billing in the VP’s policies, in addition to progressive commitments such as restoring reproductive freedoms nationwide (when Congress passes a bill to do so), passing the Equality Act “to enshrine anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQI+ Americans,” and addressing the climate crisis.
An ‘Opportunity Economy’
Kamala Harris’ ‘Opportunity Economy’ agenda has set the goal of “25 million new business applications by the end of her first term,” facilitated by “expand[ing] the startup expense tax deduction for new businesses from $5,000 to $50,000,” and addressing “everyday obstacles and red tape” that stifle business growth.
This policy commitment is made in recognition of “small businesses” being “the engines” of the American economy.
Like the party platform, the Vice President’s policy page lauds the Biden-Harris Administration’s track record in supporting American infrastructure and workers’ rights, two of the three pillars of ‘Bidenomics.’ The Vice President promises to build on this progress by “support[ing] American leadership in semiconductors, clean energy, AI and other cutting edge industries of the future.” As for workers’ rights, the Vice President promises to “sign landmark pro-union legislation” such as “the PRO Act,” which supports organisation and bargaining,” and “the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act,” which enshrines in law “the freedom for public service workers to form unions.”
This builds on the rhetoric and promises made on recent campaign appearances, where the vice president appealed to trade union workers in Pittsburgh, home of the company US Steel which is pending purchase by the Japanese Nippon Steel: “US Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated,” and spoke of the virtues of union organising in Detroit, Michigan.
The Vice President’s policies noticeably talk tougher on China than the party platform. While the latter notes the importance of “managing the competition between our countries responsibly,” the VP is apparently committed to seeing that “America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.” Her platform promises to invest in America’s workers, innovation, and industry to ensure that it becomes “the strongest nation on Earth.”
Cost of Living
It is not only startups that can expect tax incentives under a Kamala Harris presidency. The VP’s policies also include a tax cut for “more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans,” by restoring the Child Tax Credit (“…provid[ing] up to $2,000 per child to about 40 million families every year”) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (which “low- to moderate-income workers and families get a tax break”).
These commitments are in line with the VP’s other policies to make living costs more manageable for American families, which include “the first-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on food and groceries,” lowering drug costs, and cancelling medical debt. The VP’s policies also reaffirm the party platform’s commitment to protecting Americans earning less than $400,000 from tax increases.
Security & Other Policies
Other policy commitments include reviving the bipartisan border security bill, which was blocked by Senate Republicans earlier this year, and would have “deployed more detection technology to intercept … drugs” and “added 1,500 border security agents” to the US border; reaffirming the party platform’s “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s “right” and “ability to defend itself”; and tellingly, ensuring “that no former president has immunity for crimes committed while in the White House.”
What’s Next?
In the lead up to her debate with Donald Trump, the VP is still polling ahead of her rival, but her momentum has stalled. American voters who spoke to the BBC – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – have almost unanimously expressed a desire to see the candidates voice concrete policy commitments rather than a debate that descends into personal attacks.
Will Kamala Harris be able to deliver when put on the spot, and perhaps appeal to those who are undecided? We will have to watch the debate and find out.
By Harri Adams, Associate at Audley.
Image credit/Gage Skidmore/Edited/License