Harris has championed more progressive ideas than Biden

As Kamala Harris prepares to run for president against Donald Trump, she will have to lay out for voters her own ideas on how to steer the economy and address Americans’ pressing concerns about the steep rise in prices in recent years.

As Kamala Harris prepares to run for president against Donald Trump, she will have to lay out for voters her own ideas on how to steer the economy and address Americans’ pressing concerns about the steep rise in prices in recent years. Although the vice president has been a loyal messenger for President Joe Biden’s platform for the past four years, she has previously advocated for more progressive positions on health care, taxes and other issues and will have to decide whether she’ll return to those roots. A look at the proposals she floated during her run for the 2020 presidential nomination – in which Biden staked out more moderate ground – and as a senator can give some insights into her potential platform for 2024. Harris advocated for shifting the US to a government-backed health insurance system but stopped short of wanting to completely eliminate private insurance during her 2020 campaign. The proposal was to the left of the one floated by Biden, who wanted to build on the Affordable Care Act, but not as progressive as Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All plan, which she co-sponsored while in the Senate. Both of her rivals critiqued her idea, with Biden’s campaign calling it a “have-it-every-which-way approach.” Harris’ measure called for transitioning to a Medicare-for-All-type system over 10 years but continuing to allow private insurance companies to offer Medicare plans. Also, the proposal would not have raised taxes on the middle class to pay for the coverage expansion, in another contrast with Sanders’ plan. Instead, it would raise the needed funds by taxing Wall Street trades and transactions and changing the taxation of offshore corporate income.