There are 85 days before the November presidential election. NPR’s A Martinez talks to Chrissy Houlahan, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and a surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
There are 85 days before the November presidential election, and Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, spent the weekend campaigning in a few swing states – Arizona and Nevada. U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan is a Democrat from Pennsylvania, another big swing state, and is also a surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign. She joins us now. Welcome to the show.
CHRISSY HOULAHAN: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
MARTÍNEZ: Sure. Now, over the weekend, President Biden gave his first interview since withdrawing from the race. Here he is on CBS Sunday morning.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It is a critical issue for me still – it is not a joke – maintaining this democracy, but I thought it was important because, although I – it’s a great honor being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I – the most important thing you can do, and that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.
MARTÍNEZ: Representative Houlahan, arguing that Donald Trump needs to be kept out of the White House is a lot different than making the case for Kamala Harris and why she should be there instead, so how much more specific do you want to hear Vice President Harris to convince voters that she should be commander-in-chief?
HOULAHAN: So first of all, a really noble and selfless act that President Biden made, to allow us to be in this place and having this conversation. And secondly, I think you are starting to see the contours of a Harris vision, and she’s been very specific about a vision for continuation of child tax credit, childcare advancements in terms of legislative support – also paid family leave, making sure that we do sign that piece of legislation about immigration at the border that was unfortunately derailed by Trump a few months ago. I think that the vision is for forward-looking for the country, as well as for our future – and, as the president said, for our democracy, as well – and that stands in very stark contrast to a really dark vision that I think is coming from the Trump campaign.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, Kamala Harris is expected to unveil an agenda this week, including an economic plan. How will Kamala Harris’ vision be different from Joe Biden’s?
HOULAHAN: So my impression – my early impression is that there’s quite a lot of emphasis, as I mentioned, on issues such as paid leave, and such as childcare, as well, and that’s not to say that this wasn’t central to the Biden administration, but I think it is really timely. I think there is a real appetite in the nation now that maybe, perhaps, didn’t exist pre-pandemic that I hope will make sure that this these parts of her agenda will be able to be advanced. We saw, through the pandemic, the importance of families, and I think both Democrats and Republicans – and independents – believe that these are important issues, and I believe that Harris would have a relatively easy path to get some of those things done in the right kind of Senate and House composition.
MARTÍNEZ: Real quick, though, on the agenda thing, because four years ago, Kamala Harris attached her name to Joe Biden’s agenda, so how can she create her own, even if there are differences with Joe Biden’s, without appearing like she’s rejecting any part of it?
HOULAHAN: You know, I don’t know that I have seen any, you know, huge daylight between Harris and Biden, other than I think that she’s attracting another part of our demographic. I think she’s attracting the youth vote, as well, that hadn’t necessarily been completely on board with Biden, and I don’t know that that also necessarily means a huge change in agenda. I just think that there’s a real energy that hadn’t existed before.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That’s Democratic Representative Chrissy Houlahan from Pennsylvania. Representative, thank you very much for your time.
HOULAHAN: Thanks so much for having me this morning.
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