VPresident Kamala Harris is a pro-growth capitalist who wants a ‘forward-looking economy that works for everyone,’ her husband, Doug Emhoff, told donors in the most revealing comments yet from the Democratic candidate’s allies about her economic vision.
The Second Gentleman referred to his own career as a business and media lawyer at a fundraiser Monday night in Sag Harbor, New York, and said Harris “understood exactly what I was doing with these clients.”
“She’s got it completely,” Emhoff told donors as the vice president continues to pitch her economic arguments to voters in the race against Donald Trump. “Her vision is pro-capitalism, pro-innovation, pro-growth, you know, lots of jobs, lots of housing. She’s just forward-thinking.”
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He said Harris would not stand by and watch “when you cheat, when you take advantage of people,” citing her experience as a prosecutor. “There have to be consequences because it has to be fair, and that’s how she’s going to approach it.”
Emhoff spoke at the home of former hedge fund manager Richard Perry and his wife, designer Lisa Perry, who said the event raised $1.5 million for Harris’ campaign. Former President Bill Clinton also spoke.
Emhoff’s description of Harris’ economic worldview comes as Trump has called Harris a communist and nicknamed her “Comrade Kamala.” The vice president, who replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket last month, is trying to chart her own economic course and move away from discontent with inflation and the economy that persisted during Biden’s tenure.
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Among those in attendance at the fundraiser were former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, Tracy Maitland of Advent Capital Management LLC, Dan Neidich, CEO of Dune Real Estate Partners, Ray McGuire, president of Lazard Inc., and Tom Freston, a former CEO of Viacom Inc. Two grandchildren of philanthropist Laurie Tisch held boxes of Hershey Kisses with the presidential seal that Emhoff gave them as a gift from Biden.
In a speech in North Carolina earlier this month, Harris unveiled a cornerstone of her economic program, calling for an “economy of opportunity” – the first major policy goal of her campaign.
She has proposed expanding the child tax credit, especially for families with newborns, as well as housing measures to expand the housing supply and offer $25,000 subsidies to first-time homebuyers. She also said she would support expanding caps on drug costs. All of these reflect or expand on the priorities of the Biden-Harris administration.
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Still, she has been criticized for not being as specific as many other presidential campaigns, but that gives the business community hope that she could be friendlier to corporations than Biden.
However, Harris is relying heavily on policies the president has already passed, including a call to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent. She is largely abandoning some of the more liberal measures she proposed during the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, such as banning fracking and moving away from employer-sponsored health insurance.
Her campaign ads also highlighted her record as California’s attorney general, including her involvement in a landmark 2012 case involving predatory foreclosure practices against banks in the wake of the financial crisis.
