Harris will rally turnout among Dem constituencies

[Sarah & Rachel Cohrs, 7-21-24, STAT, “Harris health care agenda swiftly hailed by progressives and reproductive rights groups”, , accessed: 7-21-24, AngH]

While some progressive biotech entrepreneurs and health care venture capitalists were willing to endorse Harris, others withheld their views. Some health care analysts worried about the uncertainty the upheaval in the presidential race could create.

Harris was the first vice president to visit an abortion provider during her time in office. Unlike Biden, who expressed anti-abortion views as a senator, Harris has been unwavering in her support and grilled Biden during the 2019 primaries about his evolving stance.

Planned Parenthood acknowledged her abortion clinic visit in a statement supporting her candidacy. Harris “has kept the needs and experiences of patients and providers front and center … and we know that she will continue to fight like hell to rebuild a fundamental right that was stripped away, said the group’s president and CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson.

Emily’s List, a nonprofit aimed at electing pro-abortion rights women to office, was also quick to back the vice president. “This election will be fought and won on the issue of reproductive freedom, and Kamala Harris has been a pro-choice champion her entire career,” the group’s president, Jessica Mackler, wrote on X. “She is well-positioned to turn out the voters we’ll need to win this election, especially women, voters of color, and young voters.”

While Republicans, and most notably presidential nominee Trump, embraced the overturning of Roe v. Wade, they have sought to distance themselves from broad abortion bans in recent months. That makes it crucial for Harris to draw a clear distinction for voters in the months before the November election.

“We are fired up and laser-focused on mobilizing voters of color and engaging our communities in support of Vice President Harris, who has shown us time and time again that she will fight for us, our families, and our communities,” said Nourbese Flint, president of the abortion rights group All in Action Fund.

Anti-abortion groups including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America have seized on Harris’ record as a potential liability.

“While Joe Biden has trouble saying the word abortion, Kamala Harris shouts it,” the group’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said in a statement.

Related: Where 3 Democrats who could replace Biden atop the ticket stand on health care

Besides reproductive rights groups, Democratic lawmaker caucuses representing the most progressive and diverse arms of the party were swift to back Harris on Sunday.

The vice president “will mobilize and energize our base,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal said in a statement issued within an hour of Biden’s announcement. “At a time when Donald Trump and his Republican Party have stripped away women’s reproductive freedoms, we will respond by electing the first woman to the presidency.”

If elected, Harris would be the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian heritage in the Oval Office.

Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus also rapidly endorsed Harris. The vice president has been “instrumental” during the Biden presidency in “lowering maternal mortality rates, protecting reproductive freedoms, and ensuring economic opportunities for all,” CBC Chairman Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and the caucus PAC chairman Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said in a release.

Jerome Adams, the surgeon general under Trump who made maternal health one of his focuses, told STAT, “If the Democratic nominee ends up being Harris, she has a unique opportunity as a Black woman to highlight the issue of maternal mortality.”