Harris vows to create a bipartisan council to advise on policy
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Ms Kamala Harris said that she was talking to her team about the proposal but shared few other details about the initiative.
PHOTO: AFP
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SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – US Vice-President Kamala Harris vowed to create a bipartisan council to advise her on policy if she wins November’s election, part of an effort to broaden the appeal of the Democratic ticket by courting independent voters and Republicans wary of Donald Trump.
“I love good ideas wherever they come from,” Ms Harris said on Oct 11 at an event with Republican supporters in Scottsdale in the crucial swing state of Arizona.
“So I’m going to create a bipartisan council so we can put some structure around exactly this point and do the work that is important.”
The Democratic nominee said that she was talking to her team about the proposal but shared few other details about the initiative.
The President’s Council on Bipartisan Solutions would include public officials as well as business and community leaders from both parties to recommend ideas to help improve Americans’ lives, according to a campaign aide who provided more details on the plan on condition of anonymity.
The council would focus on issues like expanding small businesses, building more affordable housing, ensuring online safety and improving mental health care and care for veterans, according to the aide.
Ms Harris would task the council with meeting within the first 30 days of her administration.
Ms Harris’ pledge is the latest effort by the vice-president to appeal to voters outside of her party’s base, in particular disaffected Republican voters, with polls showing her and Trump locked in a tight race.
Drawing in traditional Republican voters will be critical to Ms Harris’ efforts to defeat Trump in states such as Arizona, one of the seven battlegrounds likely to determine November’s election.
In an interview with CNN in August, Ms Harris said that she would look to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet
Earlier in October, she also campaigned with former Representative Liz Cheney
“In order for us as Americans to maintain our status as the strongest democracy in the world, we need a healthy two-party system,” Ms Harris said on Oct 11.
And she used the venue for her speech – Arizona – to praise the state’s late Republican senator, Mr John McCain, who Trump regularly disparaged on the campaign trail and in office.
Polls show a competitive race in Arizona, with Ms Harris leading Trump by 50 per cent to 47 per cent among likely voters, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult survey from September.
With under a month until election day on Nov 5, Arizona is drawing new attention from both campaigns, with early voting in the state now under way.
Scottsdale, where Ms Harris held her Oct 11 event, is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area – the most populous in the state.
Both Ms Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and her husband, Mr Doug Emhoff, held campaign events in the state this week.
Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Prescott Valley on Oct 13.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, visited Arizona earlier this week and the campaign also deployed surrogates to the state as well. BLOOMBERG
