Elated, Hopeful, Wary: A white Harris
Supporter Enthusiastic to Vote Biden-Harris 2020

For a while, I’ve been torn about where to begin writing this. I watched part of the first night of the Republican National Convention and felt the disgust that many of my fellow Democrats did throughout the evening. For the second night, I ignored the convention beyond what was tweeted out. I woke up to more horrifying tweets comparing it to a white supremacist rally, the antithesis of what we should stand for as a nation. From what I’ve gone back to read or watch, I can agree with that negative sentiment, but that’s not why I’m writing this. I believe that we can restore the soul of this nation as Joe Biden says, but I believe in something more than that. I believe in building it back better than it ever was through the leadership of a future President Joe Biden, and particularly, Madam Vice President Kamala Harris, so that America can truly reach its long-promised potential.

While I’ve been a Kamala Harris supporter for a fairly long time, my journey in getting there is neither short nor direct. In 2016, I voted for Bernie Sanders in the New Jersey primary and proudly for Hillary Clinton in the general election. At 24 years old, I should have had enough insight to know that that alone wouldn’t have been enough, but I didn’t. I wasn’t truly engaged back then. I voted for Senator Sanders at first, not because of support of his policies, but because the news coverage focused on progressive issues when I was exposed to it. It was a strategic vote for me, because in my head I assumed Hillary Clinton would safely become the nominee and the first woman President of the United States of America. In hindsight, knowing what I know now regarding everyone’s record from doing the research myself, I would’ve been louder than I was, and far more involved than I was in vouching for Secretary Clinton, though I was always proud of that vote and looking forward to my young niece growing up with her in the White House.

But on June 13, 2017, Senator Kamala Harris came into my life in a big way when she made then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions nervous. She would do so again the next day.

At the time, I had not yet realized how important Kamala Harris was to the areas I was already studying. I was a Criminal Justice student with a Sociology minor, with a research internship working in juvenile crime prevention at the time. During this time, I was an integral part of a project geared at connecting families to social services and keeping kids out of the justice system in Cumberland County in New Jersey. My mentor was a professor who has since moved back to California, and who had previously himself learned from the Stockholm Prize-winning John Laub and Rob Sampson as a former student of theirs. Kamala Harris was an indirect part of my personal story before I even remembered her name due to my studies and contemporary work. Whether it was using California’s data and her own stances to write about the ethics of the death penalty for my senior ethics course, or reading up on initiatives she pioneered such as Back on Track for my actual job at the time, the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee has always been a part of my story in some way.

Which brings me back to watching Senator Kamala Harris interrogate Jeff Sessions. After 2016, like many others, I was worried about the future, following along to the Mueller investigation, and simply reading up about the records of different Senators and Representatives to prepare myself to become more involved. Watching Kamala Harris put the fear of God into Sessions caught my attention and made me dig into her history more. I knew immediately that I would support her in whatever she chose to do politically, though I might not always agree with every stance. But my first dive into more seriously politically supporting a candidate would begin elsewhere.

At the time, I saw no connection between my support for Kamala Harris and the Congressional races I was about to get involved in. From reading more and getting myself ready to become more involved, I used the New Jersey Gubernational race in 2017 as a test drive of sorts for myself. Governor Phil Murphy was the candidate I decided to actively back during the primary, and of course through the general election. I was never an official volunteer, but I took the time to speak to people I know about him, and to encourage people to vote or get involved in some way. I also took a vested interest in doing the same for now-Rep Andy Kim in his 2018 race against Tom MacArthur, talking him up in any chance I could get when I interacted with any constituents despite not being in his district.

Beyond the many reasons I could list to support Andy Kim, a personal reason I became invested in that race was "The MacArthur Amendment" of the Republican-backed ACHA, which ultimately failed as one of many attempts to repeal the ACA in some form (that are still ongoing). One practical impact of this amendment bluntly would have put several family members, friends, and myself at risk of losing health care due to our pre-existing conditions.

By the time Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for President of the United States on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 21, 2019, I was all-in. A key reason I supported Kamala Harris for President was her desire to achieve some form of universal healthcare, whether it be through her overly-publicized co-sponsorship of the Sanders Medicare for All Bill, her far less publicized co-sponsorship of Senator Schatz’s State Public Option Act in 2017, Senator Bennet’s Medicare X Choice Act of 2017, or her own personal proposal of Medicare for All which differed from the Sanders bill despite a tendency of those who oppose her to equate the two as the same bill. This was personal for me.

You see, at first glance, I’m your average 28-year old straight white male. However, I also have moderate-severe hearing loss in both ears and a few other conditions that are not necessarily visible. I wear hearing aids, which are not typically fully covered by most insurance companies without special discount partnerships, unless the insurer happens to be a specific form of Medicare. I’m fortunate in that my loss will not lead me to deafness, but also in that the ACA provision that allows children to stay on their parents' insurance plan through age 26 means that I was able to use my father’s better plan in order to afford my hearing aids in the first place. Kamala Harris consistently made a point to mention expanding coverage to hearing aids in her town halls rather than offering multiple purchasing options which wouldn’t benefit me in the long run.

These are some of the reasons why I stepped outside of my comfort zone in a big way during the primary for Kamala Harris. I participated in the Online Camp Kamala, which was primarily run by Anatole Jenkins (now National Director of States Organizing for Joe Biden), Alaina Haworth (now working Digital for the DCCC), and Hester Leyser (now the Mobilization Director for future Texas Senator MJ Hegar). These superstars taught me the importance of sharing my personal story in getting out the vote. Because of Online Camp Kamala, I was able to be included in online Kamala-based grassroots groups, and the in-person volunteer group Philly For The People. With the health issues many in my family faced last year (a story for another time), these connections were vital for me. I’m lucky every day that I was able to help host debate watch parties near the Reading Terminal Market, participate in information events in South Jersey, and help get new voters excited about Kamala Harris in Germantown.

For me personally, Kamala Harris is the sort of inspirational candidate that Secretary Clinton and President Barack Obama have been for so many others. I had never donated money for a campaign until she came along, and now I have recurring donations lined up for vital House and Senate races across the country with what I can afford, such as Desiree Tims for OH-10, Candace Valenzuela for TX-24, Jaime Harrison for Senate in SC, and Dr. Barbara Bollier for Senate in KS, among others. Because of Kamala Harris stressing the importance of lifting others up, I’ve given where I can to other races as well, such as Angela Andrews for the Hayward City Council, Hiral Tipirneni for AZ-06, Lauren Underwood for IL-14, Jackie Gordon for NY-02, and Dr. Cameron Webb for VA-05, among others. If we’re honest, I wouldn’t have bothered to look too far outside of my district before Senator Harris made the dots connect so easily for me.

While I’m clearly excited for Kamala Harris to be on this ticket, it isn’t just about me, or even just about her. Her stature as the first woman and first Black woman to be a Democratic ticket’s Vice Presidential nominee means so much for women around the country and the world. Electing a ticket with Kamala Harris means that the unique voices and experiences of Black Americans, Indian Americans, and particularly Black and/or Indian women will be a force in every conversation that happens in the highest office. Kamala Harris has been a leader in the Senate on issues such as the Black maternal mortality rate disparity, criminal justice reform, and environmental justice. Any time Kamala Harris comes up with a plan, it ends up proposed in the Senate despite Mitch McConnell’s refusal to do his job. In many cases, her proposals have become part of Joe Biden’s platform as well, whether they’re related to ongoing circumstances with disparities in the government’s coronavirus response, or longstanding proposals such as the Clean School Bus Act.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris together will fight for women’s healthcare. While running for president, Kamala Harris was for many months, the only candidate with a full platform on eliminating the extensive national rape kit backlog, as well as a record of actually accomplishing this at the state level while serving as California’s Attorney General. While I’m lucky enough to not be a survivor, several close friends of mine are not so lucky. Before Kamala Harris was even the San Francisco District Attorney, she co-founded a task force to study the issues of sexually exploited youth. Because of her work before ever running for District Attorney, survivors were able to safely connect with necessary resources through safe houses, cleverly dispersed information posters, and a public education campaign that would be adapted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Kamala Harris never practiced as a private attorney defending child predators, but instead put violent abusers into prison while coming up with intuitive ways to still reduce the overall prison population through rehabilitation programs and a lens of restorative justice. Her client has always been the people.
Joe Biden had developed a platform for clearing the national rape kit backlog months before selecting Kamala Harris to be his Vice President and has the track record to make me believe he will accomplish it. While there are many fair reasons to criticize the 1994 Crime Bill, Joe Biden gave us the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as a part of the package after first attempting to introduce it in 1990. According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, the overall rate of intimate partner violence had actually dropped 64% from 1993 to 2010, after the full implementation of the VAWA. In its final statute, the VAWA included measures such as requiring states to recognize protection orders from other states, the federal prosecution of domestic violence and sexual-assault crimes that occurred across state lines, funding for crisis centers, and grants for programs to educate judges on gender-motivated violence due to the many complexities at play.

Joe Biden has a long track record of fighting injustice, just as Kamala Harris does. Joe Biden helped pass the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to establish background checks and successfully secured the passage of the 10-year assault weapons ban. While the Reagan administration balked in the late 80’s, Biden was a key voice in speaking out against the apartheid in the Senate. Joe’s empathy is well-documented, and his character is embodied in the campaign’s code. Even back in 1986, Joe Biden was the first member of Congress to attempt to introduce legislation to deal with the climate crisis, long before it was at the forefront of Americans' minds and long before he helped provide feedback in negotiating the Paris Climate Accords. And while Donald Trump is too afraid to call out the government of China for human rights abuses and allegedly encouraged them in specific cases, Joe Biden isn’t afraid to label China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims as the genocide that it is. Simply put, Joe Biden will restore the United States to respectability throughout the globe.

We’re dealing with multiple crises at once that the current occupant of the White House simply isn’t capable of handling. As Governor Cuomo has had to announce that New York can’t follow just-released CDC guidelines steeped in politics regarding COVID-19, Joe Biden has been warning of the dangers of the virus and has had a plan of action for months and routinely meets with scientists, while Kamala Harris has proposed multiple pieces of legislation not only to help most Americans financially, but also to deal with the widening racial disparities being drawn out by the current circumstances. Under Joe Biden and former Chief of Staff (now Biden Senior Advisor) Ron Klain, Ebola never became the massive threat to the U.S. that COVID-19 has. As I type this, the United States' known death toll has exceeded 180,000 Americans. To put that into context, that is around 30,000 people shy of being double the population of South Bend, Indiana, where former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was Mayor. It is over 50% of the total population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in proportion.

My journey to the Biden-Harris ticket has been a long one, but every step of the way has been a reason why this ticket means more to me. As Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have both consistently said, we are facing an inflection point in our nation’s history. Kamala Harris has described the moment as a time where we’ll look back in the future and our kids will ask "what was it like?". Instead of describing what it was like, we must come together and take action. To paraphrase and change the context from the final primary debate Senator Harris participated in, "Where have you been, and what are you going to do?". I will be casting my ballot for Biden and Harris. As the great John Lewis said in his final op-ed, "the vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it". As Americans, we have an obligation to honor his legacy and restore the soul of our nation.