Harris in New Orleans on July 6. Photo: Michael DeMocker/Getty Images
Presumed Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris could bring a new focus on environmental justice to the presidential race — and almost certainly torrents of GOP attacks on the Green New Deal.
Why it matters: If she's the nominee, Harris would largely seek to continue the Biden administration's agenda. But her more progressive image on energy and climate would shake up the election on policy.
Harris ran to Biden's left on climate during the 2020 presidential primary and was an early backer of the Green New Deal.
- At the time, she endorsed a fracking ban (she later had to backpedal on that) and abolishing the Senate filibuster to pass climate legislation.
- Her campaign's climate plan also proposed an international summit with major climate emitters to negotiate an end to fossil fuel subsidies and a global managed decline of the industry.
- She'd likely try to make her mark as president with new initiatives on environmental justice and new pushback on the oil industry.
Zoom in: In the Senate, Harris built up bona fides in progressive circles by introducing legislation to flesh out the Green New Deal and EJ policy.
- That includes a proposal with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to create a new division at the Congressional Budget Office to look at how legislation impacts EJ communities.
- She also floated a bill to create a new grant program for electric school buses. A version of that idea was later funded in the IIJA.
- And Harris was the Senate lead on the Environmental Justice For All Act, the sweeping progressive bill to create protections against environmental discrimination and expand community engagement on polluting projects.
Harris notably cast the historic deciding vote to send the IRA over the finish line.
- She's been one of Biden's top deputies in selling the climate and infrastructure laws, appearing frequently at events to tout new grants and and regs.
- Harris said recently at LCV's annual Capital Dinner that she sees global impact from the IRA: "A lot of what we intend as an administration to do around these investments is to then create the models that are ripe for replication."
The big picture: Harris has used these issues to frame virtually her entire political career.
- She created an environmental justice unit as San Francisco district attorney.
- As California attorney general, she was involved in the Volkswagen emissions cheating case and initiated criminal proceedings against the Plains All-American Pipeline after a 2015 spill.
- Her record as a prosecutor could also become more relevant for the Dem base, given the party's recent attacks on oil and gas companies.
Our thought bubble: Harris isn't drastically different from Biden on energy. But their differences could mean some real policy changes on the margin in a world in which Dems already pushed much of their climate agenda over the congressional finish line.
- At the same time, her past anti-fossil fuel rhetoric could be a real liability for her on the campaign trail.
