Vice President Kamala Harris underscored in an op-ed in The Capital Times in Madison the choice facing Wisconsinites in this election: between a president who will come into office on day one fighting for Wisconsinites, or one who is focused only on himself.
Vice President Harris: “As this campaign comes to a close, my pledge to you is this: I will seek common ground and commonsense solutions for the middle class. As someone who has spent most of my career outside of Washington, I know that good ideas come from everywhere. I’ll listen to experts, those who are impacted by the decisions I make, and people who disagree with me. And I will work with everyone — Democrats, Republicans, and independents — to help Americans who are working hard and still struggling to get ahead.
“Above all, I pledge to be a president for all Americans. To always put country above party and above self.
“Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other because he thinks that helps him politically. That’s who he is. But it’s not who America is.”
Read the full op-ed below.
Capital Times: Kamala Harris | I will be president for all Americans
In this election, Wisconsinites have the chance to make a decision that directly impacts your life, the life of your family and the future of this country we love.
Many of you have already made your choice. But I know many others are still considering who to vote for — or whether to vote at all.
This may be the most important vote you ever cast. It is a choice between a president who will come into office on Day One fighting for you. Or one who is focused only on himself.
I am not afraid of tough fights against bad actors and powerful interests. For decades, as a prosecutor and as the top law enforcement officer of our biggest state, I won fights: against big banks that ripped off homeowners, against for-profit colleges that scammed veterans and students, against predators who abused women and children, and cartels that trafficked in guns, drugs, and human beings. And as president, I will fight every day to make your lives better.
My presidency will not be an extension of the last four years. The challenges we face today are different. And I will bring my own experiences and ideas.
Donald Trump has told us his top priorities for a second term. While I will come into office on Day One with a “to do” list for the American people, he would come in with an “enemies list” that prioritizes his own petty grievances. He intends to deploy the military against Americans who disagree with him — people he calls “the enemy from within.” This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better. This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge and out for unchecked power.
My top priority will be lowering costs. And I have a comprehensive plan to do that.
I will give a middle class tax cut to more than 100 million Americans, enact the first-ever federal ban on price gouging to lower the cost of food and groceries, cap the price of insulin at $35 and limit out-of-pocket prescription costs for all Americans.
I will fight to make sure that working Americans can actually afford a place to live. Expand Medicare to cover home health care for seniors. And I will protect the retirement our seniors have earned over their lifetimes.
And my plan will lower the cost of child care, cut taxes for small businesses, and lower health care costs, because health care should be a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it.
Trump’s answer to costs that are too high is another trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, exactly like he did last time. And he will pay for it by passing the cost down to you with a 20% tax on everyday goods like clothes, food, toys, cell phones. His Trump sales tax would cost the average family nearly $4,000 per year.
Expert economists warn his plan will send inflation skyrocketing and throw tens of millions of Americans off health insurance by ending the Affordable Care Act.
I also believe in the fundamental freedom of Americans to make decisions about their own bodies and not have their government tell them what to do. So when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, I will proudly sign it into law.
Trump, on the other hand, is responsible for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. As a result, one in three women now live in a state with a Trump abortion ban. Many have no exceptions even for rape and incest.
Make no mistake, Trump will go further, banning abortion nationwide, restricting access to birth control and threatening IVF, and forcing states to monitor women’s pregnancies. It’s all there in his Project 2025 agenda.
When it comes to our immigration system, I know that America is a nation of immigrants and I will always protect that heritage. What I will not allow is drug cartels, human smugglers and violent criminals to break our laws.
It’s time for politicians to stop treating immigration as an issue to scare up votes in an election and start treating it as a serious challenge that we must finally come together and solve. I will do what Trump refused to: I will fix the border. I will bring back the border bill that he killed — and go even further to secure the border, while working to pass a bipartisan bill that fixes our broken immigration system once and for all.
As this campaign comes to a close, my pledge to you is this: I will seek common ground and commonsense solutions for the middle class. As someone who has spent most of my career outside of Washington, I know that good ideas come from everywhere. I’ll listen to experts, those who are impacted by the decisions I make, and people who disagree with me. And I will work with everyone — Democrats, Republicans, and independents — to help Americans who are working hard and still struggling to get ahead.
Above all, I pledge to be a president for all Americans. To always put country above party and above self.
Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other because he thinks that helps him politically. That’s who he is. But it’s not who America is.
I know that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. And I believe America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised. For nearly 250 years, Americans have preserved and expanded freedom, created opportunity and shown that a government of, by, and for the people can endure. Ours is a future of limitless possibilities.
So, I humbly ask for your vote, because if I have the privilege of serving as your president, I know that together we can turn the page on this divisive era of our politics and start writing the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.
