“I know something about how difficult it is for a strong female candidate to combat the sexism and double standards in American politics,” Clinton wrote, praising Harris, the current presumptive Democratic nominee, as “a skilled former prosecutor and successful vice president who embodies our belief that America’s best days are still ahead.”
Clinton warned that Harris’ “record and character will be distorted and maligned” as she takes on former President Donald Trump, adding that “Harris and her team will have to cut through the noise.”
Clinton, who previously endorsed Harris, suggested she should rely on her record as a prosecutor and President Biden’s vice president. “Harris has a great story to tell about the accomplishments of this administration,” she said.
Clinton also said Republicans are pushing for an abortion ban. Roe v. Wade The overturning of that bill gave Democrats a stronger case for mobilizing their base, but the new bill may help galvanize female voters even further.
Clinton, who became the first woman to be a major party nominee in 2016, endured a painful and bruising campaign in which Trump repeatedly mocked her appearance and questioned her mental health. “I was called a witch, a ‘nasty woman’ and worse. I was even burned in effigy. As a candidate, I was sometimes hesitant to talk about making history because I wasn’t sure voters were ready for it,” she said. “While it still hurts that I didn’t break the highest, hardest glass ceiling, I am proud that I made it normal for women to be at the top of the presidential race in two presidential elections.”
Clinton said Harris would face additional challenges as the first Black and South Asian woman to serve as a major party’s top candidate. “That’s true, but we need not be afraid,” she said. “It’s a trap to believe progress is impossible.”
Already, Harris has faced attacks from supporters that liken her to racist tropes aimed at Black women. Some Republicans have also accused her of being a potential “DEI” president, pointing to diversity, equity and inclusion programs that conservatives want to eliminate and argue lead to minorities getting jobs over more qualified white candidates. Harris has “been chronically underestimated, like many women in politics, but I am well prepared for this moment,” Clinton wrote.
Clinton suggested Harris focus on the Biden administration’s policy achievements, such as steering the U.S. economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and tackling drug costs and student debt issues.
Biden added 15 more. As The Washington Post previously reported, the Trump administration ushered in an era of low inflation, low interest rates and low gasoline prices that have created a million jobs in less than four years, pushed Black unemployment to an all-time low and reduced student loan debt by billions of dollars. The Biden administration is seeking to cancel huge sums of student loan debt, but Republicans are challenging his plan in court, broadly arguing that such relief is fiscally irresponsible and unfair to people who never attended college and those who have already paid off their education loans.
“Harris will need to reach out to voters who are skeptical of Democrats and mobilize younger voters who need persuasion, but she can run on a strong record of success and an ambitious plan to further ease the burden on families, enact commonsense gun safety laws, and restore and protect our rights and freedoms,” Clinton wrote.
Clinton acknowledged that with an election due within the next three months, there is a limited time for Harris’ campaign to succeed, but she argued it was possible, citing recent victories of left-wing politics in the UK and France.
Clinton wrote that Harris should use her past work as a prosecutor to take on Trump, who she described as “a convicted felon who only thinks about himself and is trying to turn back the clock on our rights and our country.”
