(Headline USA) Progressive lawmakers admitted that they weren’t worried about Vice President Kamala Harris abandoning her leftist beliefs—even if she’s claimed to do so on the campaign trail.
Harris’s presidential campaign has flip-flopped on several key policies she once supported, including “Medicare for All,” banning fracking and decriminalizing illegal immigration.
But that doesn’t make any difference to the Left, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
“I’m from Massachusetts, she’s from California. On climate, on abortion, on racial, LGBTQ issues, we are absolutely in agreement on her agenda,” he told The Hill. “That’s why Elizabeth Warren and I are so passionately campaigning for her and supporting her.”
When asked if he expected Harris to back “Medicare for All,” which he co-sponsored in the Senate, if she were to be elected to the White House, Markey claimed he was more worried about former President Donald Trump trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Unlike Trump, Harris would be a “big proponent of ensuring of an expansion of healthcare in our country,” Markey said, adding that he “absolutely” considers Harris a progressive leader.
Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also expressed support for Harris, acknowledging that she was simply saying what she must to win the election against Trump.
“I don’t think she’s abandoning her ideals,” he told NBC News when asked about her policy shifts. “I think she’s tried to be pragmatic and doing what she thinks is right in order to win the election.”
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, likewise downplayed her campaign’s flip-flop on fracking.
“I want her to be a pragmatist and I want her to win. Nothing’s more important for the climate than winning,” he said. “I don’t have any doubt that Kamala Harris would be a great president for climate action but I don’t think we should be asking her to say certain magic words and I certainly don’t think we should be demanding that she take unpopular positions in key states.”
Harris herself acknowledged in a sit-down interview with CNN that her “values have not changed” since she previously went on the record endorsing an extreme agenda during the 2019 Democratic primary.
