NC Women Back Kamala Harris’ Presidential Campaign with Enthusiasm

Since President Joe Biden made the historic decision to not seek reelection in the 2024 election and endorse Kamala Harris, everyone from late-night TV hosts to political leaders have expressed some relatively forgotten sentiments: excitement.

From Harris’ groundbreaking $81 million raised in 24 hours to Kamala memes taking over social media, the sense of reinvigoration is impossible to ignore.

Young voters, Charlotte Democrat Rep. Alma Adams told the Charlotte Observer, are pleased to see Biden pass the political torch to a new generation. “I think young people are going to be energized because they do see now, at least some of them, that this is a clear path for them,” Adams said.

Greensboro voter Kari Procton recently tweeted: “I had the privilege of listening to Madame Vice President @KamalaHarris speak in Greensboro, NC this year with fellow @MomsDemand volunteers. She said “I eat No for breakfast every morning.” She’s got this, and we’ve got her back. Let’s GO!”

Cardinal & Pine spoke with other female North Carolina voters to get a better understanding of how and why women are excited about this seismic political moment. Asheville resident Erin Terry (a registered Independent due to the fact that she “strongly dislikes our two-party system”) says that until Biden announced he was dropping out, she’d felt “anxious and feeling overwhelmed” about the 2024 election. “Looking at November felt ominous, especially in light of the growing cult of personality on the right,” she said. “The Democrats have felt scattered and unenthusiastic.”

But since the announcement, Terry has experienced a sea change in her outlook. The announcement, “followed by a record setting amount of fundraising and endorsements from delegates and governors across the US, not to mention the mobilization of new volunteers — my feelings about November feel hopeful,” she says. “I dare say I’m optimistic not for a blue wave but a blue landslide.”

In Cary, Mona Singh echoed Terry’s excitement, pointing out some of Harris’ qualities that she thinks will benefit her as president. “The reason that I’m excited is that it’s just everything she brings to the table,” Singh said. “It’s not just that she’s Indian, but she’s just completely awesome even before that, right? She has the right attitude, she has the empathy that we need in a president. She has the guts that a lot of people may lack. She brings all of that together very nicely. And on top of that, she’s an Asian. She’s a woman. She’s also a Jamaican.”

Both women discussed being excited to see support for issues they hold dear. Terry is concerned with reproductive rights and maternal mortality rates among people of color, as well as gun reform.

“Restoring Roe and protecting reproductive rights is at the top of my mind, as well as common sense gun policy,” Terry said. “I will support any continued measures from President Harris to bring more attention to maternal mortality rates among Black women and other birthing people of color.”

Singh is also concerned about gun reform, saying that she thinks an emphasis on access to education would help counter the power of gun culture, too. “I think what’s very important for me is that she represents the educated class as well, right? Because our country is getting pulled away, you know, into guns, into violence, moving away more and more from what made America great,” she said. “The Asian Indian community, plus the Hawaiian Pacific, all of us included are just super excited that she represents everything that we want in America, everything we want America to be,” Singh says, “you know, where everybody has access to good public education.”

Many of Harris’ positions on education — including a push for universal pre-school and debt-free college — are aligned with those proposed or implemented by Biden. During her tenure as vice president, she has helped pass legislation that has lowered healthcare costs, invested in childcare and housing, and advanced efforts to fight climate change. This legislation includes 2021’s American Rescue Plan, which in addition to offering $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans and expanded the child tax credit for parents, also included expanded food assistance programs and child care assistance, as well as investment in schools and child care programs.

In 2022, she helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which helped put millions of electric vehicles on the road, including electric school buses. She also worked with Biden to pass the country’s most significant gun violence prevention legislation in almost 30 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Terry and Singh both noted that while there are no perfect candidates, candidates like Harris represent shared community values. “We have a real contrast of ballots for November, one that will take us backward in time, regressing our country and truly being on the wrong side of history, and the other being the one with compassion, allyship, and generosity,” said Terry. “We cannot go backward, and we are going to need to prod any unmotivated voter or passive citizen with information and empowerment to help us elect Madame President Kamala Harris in November, I fear our lives depend on it.”

“It’s one thing to have representation, but it’s another thing when that representation is actually a super qualified candidate with great policies,” Singh said. “ I think that’s what’s really making everybody excited is that she stands for our values.”