Since the presidential elections in 2016 seems all the democrats have become political strategists in the leisure time. In the long queue outside a church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where the senator Kamala Harris, the first fund raising events taking place, going on loud discussions on the tactical considerations ahead of the next election.
The most important thing, says almost all, is to appoint a candidate who can defeat Trump. Many people seem ready to vote with your brain rather than with the heart in the situation.
” I was very hard on Bernie Sanders in the last election. But now, I think it will be best with Kamala Harris, as long as she has a progressive vice-president, says Kim Farrell, a teacher in New Hampshire.
Harris manages to get a standing ovation when she talks about the importance of stricter gun laws. Photo: Keiko Hiromi/TT
– The I most of all would like to have as president is Elizabeth Warren. But she is at the same time, the I least of all want as a presidential candidate, I don’t think she can win, ” says Stephen Peters, an it entrepreneur from the neighbouring town of Newington.
instead, says Peters that he intends to vote for Kamala Harris, or, possibly, Joe Biden.
where the 20 incumbent democrats have already begun their campaigns are trying to senator Kamala Harris stand out. She has previously had one of the USA’s heaviest legal offices, as the attorney general in California, the equivalent of an attorney general for the state. For several years, she has been mentioned as a potential future president for the Democrats.
She likes to talk about her own childhood, with a father from Jamaica and mother from India, but focuses particularly on her legal experience. The campaign will return constantly to the slogan ”truth and justice”, truth and justice. When we meet shortly after kampanjevenemanget in Portsmouth, she is easily flustered after the enthusiastic response from the audience. I ask her why she thinks she can win against Trump.
” I was a prosecutor for many years and this is a time when the US needs to re-establish truth and justice. This is a time when we americans look at ourselves in the mirror and ask if this really is our country. The answer is that we are better than this, ” she says to DN.
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hope that Donald Trump’s time as president will be a parenthesis in american history, rather than the beginning of a new högerpopulistisk era.
In Portsmouth, there are many who say that they found Harris during the hearing of the Brett Kavanaugh, before appointment to the Supreme court. Harris harsh but factual questions to Kavanaugh strengthened her mark as a tough prosecutor.
– Many other plays tough against Trump, but Harris’s experience as a prosecutor gives her more credibility when it comes to concrete solutions. I hope she can do a perfect retreat of all Trump accomplished, when it comes to immigration policy, climate policy, foreign policy, transrättigheter, ” said Ryan Dean, who has a regnbågsmönstrad Kamala Harris-cap, and already describes himself as a devout follower.
Read more: Trump to copy Sanders succétaktik before the election in 2020
among the democrats seems to be just her legal experience. Many here hope that she would put a stop to a president that most democrats see as a threat to the rule of law.
”this is a time when the US needs to re-establish truth and justice,” says Kamala Harris. Photo: Keiko Hiromi/TT
Diane Benson, a former federal prosecutor, sitting at the front when Harris speaks in Portsmouth.
” For me it’s important that we get a democrat as president who may appoint new judges to the Supreme court. That is the question that will get the most long-lasting consequences in this presidential election. There is no one I respect more than Harris, she says.
at the same time, it is precisely Harris’s background as a prosecutor who receives criticism from the party all the more energetic left flank. Several influential voices in places like the Black Lives Matter movement, has questioned her role in a legal system they see as deeply discriminatory against particular ethnic minorities. She has, for example, defended the death penalty.
in the early stages of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, where she also struggled to portray itself as a progressive despite a background in the democratic mittfåra. Harris has, just like Clinton, support from a broad coalition of the Democrats ‘ most reliable kärnväljare and organisations, but has not yet the same fanatical followers, such as Bernie Sanders.
Read more: Sanders will be personalised in order to attract voters
During the kampanjtalet in New Hampshire get stuck she from time to time in legal jargon, but it is clear that she radiates a deep respect among the audience. New Hampshire is a wayward state, where the Democrats often advocate libertarian values and defend, for example, vapenrättigheter and private schools.
get a standing ovation when she talks about the importance of stricter gun laws. She concludes his speech with an appeal for unity in a united states where politics is characterized by polarization and anger.
– When we are waking up three in the morning and brooding over the problems in our lives, what are we thinking of then? Not that we are republicans or democrats. We are concerned about the way we should be able to pay sjukhusräkningarna. We worry about whether our children are safe in their school environment. We are concerned about our relative who is dependent on opioids. Ask an american anywhere in the country and they worry about the same things, ” says Harris.
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