Kamala is Moderate: The Centrist Rally(ing Cry)

Harris' unity rally with Liz Cheney, and why it can't just be for show.

This past week gave centrists all the feels as Democratic nominee for President Kamala Harris and Republican former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney co-led a “Country Over Party” unity rally in Ripon, Wisconsin — the town known as the birthplace of the Republican Party.

Politico reported on the event:

The California liberal and Wyoming conservative agree on little besides their view that former President Donald Trump is a threat to democracy who shouldn’t return to the White House after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. At Ripon College, in a small city where a group of Whigs, Free Soilers and Democrats met in 1854 to form a new party, calling themselves Republicans, Cheney said she would vote for a Democrat for the first time in her life to stop Trump.

“Our republic faces a threat unlike any we have faced before,” said Cheney. “A former president who attempted to stay in power by unraveling the foundations of our republic, by refusing to accept the lawful results confirmed by dozens of courts of the 2020 election.”

At the small-scale event, Harris framed the presidential race as an existential event and sought to draw voters’ attention back to the riot at the Capitol nearly four years ago.

“One of the most fundamental questions that is facing the American people in this election,” Harris said, is “who will abide by the oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America?”

Harris acknowledged that she and Cheney “may not see eye to eye on every issue” and even said “we are going to get back to a healthy two-party system” in which they would fiercely debate. But she praised Cheney, who stood behind her during her remarks, as a “true patriot.”

Coverage by CBS added, “The campaign is also hosting ‘Republicans for Harris’ events across the battleground states this week, including an event with former Reps. Denver Riggleman in North Carolina and Adam Kinzinger in Las Vegas.”

The Welcome rally in Ripon and Republicans for Harris events feel like the brainchild of what we’ve been preaching for years. A March 2023 piece we wrote on Biden’s Big Tent noted:

This spirit — empathy, optimism and patriotism in the face of personal and national tragedy — is at the core of the big-tent project.

Big-Tent Leadership Runs to the Top of the Ticket

We think and write a lot about the big-tent leaders who reach out to voters in the middle with empathy, optimism, and patriotism. From Tim Ryan to Reverend Warnock to Abigail Spanberger to Adam Frisch and Sharice Davids, the Democratic Party is full of mainstream candidates and politicians who harness electoral volatility and welcome more voters in.

These depolarizers don’t get the media attention they deserve, but they are out there winning moderate and center-right swing voters, beating back the flames of authoritarianism, and clearing a path for like-minded (lowercase “d”) democrats to follow.

Biden’s lower-key presence in daily life makes it easier to forget that Democrats’ mainstream faction runs right up to the top of the ticket. Few figures in modern politics are as uniquely emblematic of the center-left’s welcoming, empathetic, and pragmatic orientation than President Biden himself.

In the Harris campaign’s efforts to beat Trump this November, it appears that Harris is rightfully following in Joe Biden’s footsteps to grow the big tent he seemed to so seamlessly build in the process of beating Trump in 2020. She’s racked up endorsements from Republicans, the

Republicans for Harris

coalition is growing, and she’s high-tailed it to the center on policy issues ranging from fracking to immigration.

Harris and her campaign have rebranded from her 2019 campaign for President, molding the Vice President into a Center Left maven. The top-to-bottom transformation even extends to her 2024 campaign posters: The Boston Globe reported on Harris’ color scheme shift emblematic of a woman on a mission to win over swing voters.

Harris’s revamped color scheme is an illustration — literally — of the difference between trying to gain traction in a crowded Democratic primary and courting an entire country of Democrats, independents, and disaffected Republicans. From a junior California senator looking to gain a foothold with progressive primary voters five years ago, she has quickly become the Democratic party’s standard-bearer; she inherited the campaign of a more centrist president and is now trying to avoid alienating any likely voters.

As Harris grows in her authenticity this cycle, campaigning with Republicans seems like a natural, even requisite, element of her bid for President.

So why does it feel like there’s another elephant in the room?

As Harris follows in Biden’s big tent footsteps, there lies an inescapable concern that she could too closely retrace those steps should she get elected, finding herself shrinking the big tent the two campaigns have worked so hard to build.

Third Way’s Moderate Talent Pipeline has been wildly reassuring when considering how a Harris transition team could staff an Administration. Yet, to be determined is whether Harris would be able to hold her ground as President to keep these largely popular campaign promises and appeals to voters, particularly with a progressive-leaning Vice President in Tim Walz. Who’s to say that if Harris fell for progressives’ leftward lurch in 2019 once that she won’t fall for it again?

After voters’ honeymoon phase with their newly-elected President ended, Biden’s approval rating in August 2021 dropped to below 50% and never recovered. Voters will quickly notice if Harris’ centrism sours.

When it comes to navigating the challenge of intra-party dissent, Harris can look to her co-host from last week’s event for inspiration: Cheney, one of the highest-ranking Republicans in the U.S. House before losing her seat, was one of only two Republicans to serve on the House Select Committee investigating January 6. The symbolism of courage, independence and commitment to protecting American values Cheney brings to the Harris campaign cannot be over-stated.

That said, it would be a shame if last week’s event in Ripon ended up being just for the history books, and not for the policy papers, particularly as many voters currently trust Trump’s solutions for issues like natural security and foreign policy, immigration, and crime over Harris’.

Should Harris win this November, the pomp and circumstance of campaigning shoulder-to-shoulder with Liz Cheney can’t be for naught. The Americans in the middle — conservative-leaning, independent and Center Left — who trusted her with their vote and delivered her the White House can’t be forgotten once it’s time to govern and lead. If Democrats aren’t mindful of this, even a Harris victory in November 2024 is no match for another populist movement in 2028 led by a certain, notably younger, Republican nominee for Vice President.

Recommended Reads

This week, we’re excited to share recommendations for more Center Left reads! Be sure to check out:

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