Any time a California politician makes it to the nationwide stage, the epithets comply with: California radical, San Francisco liberal, and so forth. It’s occurred to Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the checklist goes on.
However what if it’s the Democratic nominee for president and probably the primary lady to carry the nation’s highest workplace?
Republicans led by former President Donald Trump are utilizing these assaults on Vice President Kamala Harris. To learn the way profitable that technique could also be, CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu and photographer Larry Valenzuela are following Harris and her new working mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on their tour of battleground states that may possible resolve the 2024 race, once more.
In Michigan, some voters informed Stella they see California as its personal weird place, separate from the actual America. This model of the state, the place “people poop on the sidewalks,” is rife with crime and homelessness, and its Democratic leaders are in charge.
Cheryl Costantino, a Republican trainer in Macomb County, says violent crimes in San Francisco elevated whereas Harris was district lawyer.
- Constantino: “The fact that she’s from California should make her more sensitive to those issues, not less sensitive. Just because she goes to Washington doesn’t mean that she should be removed from them.”
However Harris’ “California-ness” may very well be made extra palatable by Walz.
Democrat Carl Marlinga, who’s working for Congress in Macomb County, praised Walz’s approachability when he referred to as Trump and Vance “weird,” as if Walz have been an “ordinary guy … sitting down for dinner at a deli somewhere.”
- Marlinga: “We like conservation, we like sports, we like fishing, we like hunting. We’re not like the Democrats in New York and California, because we’re not here to grab your guns and to change your life and to preach to you about things.”
Learn extra about Harris and swing-state voters in Stella’s story.
Legislators going to DNC: The Democratic Nationwide Conference the place Harris will formally settle for the nomination overlaps with the second-to-last week of the California Legislature’s session. However that isn’t stopping 22 lawmakers from going to Chicago to see historical past within the making on Aug. 19-22, Politico reported Thursday.
Senate Democratic chief Mike McGuire of Santa Rosa isn’t going, however mentioned he’s excited, nonetheless. “This momentous event is a historic opportunity that is good for California, good for our nation, and good for all those who support equality, freedom, and democracy,” he mentioned in a press release.
November election: It’s not too early to get knowledgeable. Sustain with CalMatters protection by signing up for 2024 election emails. Take a look at our Voter Informationtogether with updates and movies on the ten propositions and a FAQ on how one can vote. And learn up on the historical past of poll measures in California.
