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After a raucous convention that culminated in an historic acceptance speech, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have fully turned their sights on November.
The growing energy Democrats displayed leading into last week’s DNC has since exploded. The campaign reportedly raised over $40 million in the 48 hours after Harris’s speech. Since entering the race on July 21st, her campaign has moved well beyond half a billion dollars raised in total.
In the week since the Convention, polls show Harris has pulled ahead of Trump in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. She’s nearly also on track to pull ahead in Nevada, Georgia, and even Arizona.
A new Gallup poll released in August shows Democrats have also pulled ahead of Republicans in their enthusiasm about voting in November. In March, roughly 55% of Democrats said they were “more enthusiastic than usual” about voting. By August, prior to the DNC, that number had shot up to 78% – a jump of 23%. Over the same time period, Republican enthusiasm increased just 5 points, from 59% in March to 64% in August.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley speaks to The Black Wall Street Times about the joy she feels voting for Kamala Harris
The Black Wall Street Times (The BWSTimes) spoke with Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley just hours before the DNC began.
The Congresswoman spoke about her joy and excitement surrounding the election and urged Americans to join together in this powerful moment.
“I would say this moment is so surreal, except it feels so attainable,” Pressley said, adding that the nation is “on the precipice of making history.”
Pressley, who was a surrogate for Harris in 2020 and for Clinton in 2016, said this year feels distinct. “People are so much clearer about the stakes,” she said. “They know why the Supreme Court matters and what happens when a president stacks the bench.”
The Congresswoman described a vote for the Harris/Walz ticket as a vote for “a more just America. One where every person and every family model is seen.”
Pressley said the policies of a Harris/Walz administration would center on issues like canceling student debt, increasing access to homeownership, expanding the child tax credit, addressing price gouging, and more.
“Economic, gender, and racial justice” are central to Harris’s policies, Pressley said. By contrast, she says the values of the Republican ticket are out of touch with the needs of Americans.
“These folks are callous, and they are clueless,” Pressley said of Trump and Vance. “They are disconnected from the needs of everyday people.”
Pressley told The BWSTimes that, in addition to the excitement for the policies of the Harris campaign, the history of a Harris presidency fueled her as well.
“It’s hard not to get emotional about it, honestly,” Pressley said when asked what this moment meant to her.
Her message to young women across the country watching this moment was simple.
“You belong everywhere,” Pressley said. “That’s it. You belong everywhere.”