Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris unveiled her economic campaign proposal in North Carolina, aiming to build what she calls an “opportunity economy” focused on the middle class.
Speaking in Raleigh, Harris stated, “Your salary should be enough to provide you and your family with a good quality of life. No child should have to grow up in poverty. After years of hard work, you should be able to retire with dignity, and you should be able to join a union if you choose.”
To lower the cost of living, Harris outlined plans to cut needless bureaucracy and red tape, investigate anti-competitive behavior in the food supply, and propose a federal ban on price-gouging in food. She highlighted a recent federal report indicating that inflation had fallen below 3% for the first time since March 2021.
“Our supply chains have now improved, but prices are still too high,” Harris said. “Many of the big food companies are seeing their highest profits in two decades. While many grocery chains pass along these savings, others still aren’t. We need to take action when businesses are not playing by the rules.”
Harris’s comments come ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where she is expected to provide more details about her economic agenda.
North Carolina is a key focus for Harris's campaign. The state was last won by a Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, when Barack Obama secured a narrow victory. Recent polling suggests North Carolina is a battleground state for the 2024 election. Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate in late July, noted she had visited the state 16 times as vice president.
In her speech, Harris shared her personal experience working at McDonald’s in her youth and her efforts as California’s attorney general to lower drug prices and combat predatory lending in the housing market. She emphasized the need to address red tape and barriers that constrain the housing supply.
“By the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class,” Harris said. “We will ensure those homes go to working and middle-class Americans, not just investors.”
Harris also addressed the issue of corporate landlords purchasing single-family homes, which has become a significant political issue. She cited concerns about collusion raised by a ProPublica investigation into the use of RealPage software, noting that the Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice filed a joint legal brief in March addressing algorithmic price fixing.
“It’s anti-competitive, and it drives up costs,” Harris said. “I will fight for a law that cracks down on these practices.”
She also proposed a $25,000 grant for first-time homebuyers to help with down payments and advocated for tax cuts for more than 100 million Americans. Her plan includes reinstating the earned income tax credit and child tax credit, and introducing a $6,000 tax credit for new parents.
Harris contrasted her proposals with Donald Trump’s support for the FairTax, a national sales tax intended to replace income tax. She argued that taxpayers would pay thousands more under the proposals in the Project 2025 manifesto.
“Trump plans to give billionaires massive tax cuts year after year,” Harris said. “He plans to cut corporate taxes by over $1 trillion, even as they pull in record profits. And that’s on top of the $2 trillion tax cut he already signed into law as president, which overwhelmingly went to the wealthiest Americans and corporations, and exploded the national deficit.”
“I think if you want to know who someone cares about, look who they fight for,” Harris concluded.
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