By embracing a message of freedom — including the freedom for working people not only to get by, but to get ahead — Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz are making a clear break from the decades of policy pushed by corporate Democrats at the expense of our communities.
Though it’s still early days in the Harris-Walz campaign, it’s clear that they’re embracing an agenda of structural economic reform that rebuilds dignity for the working class, addresses corporate power over our everyday lives and confronts climate destruction head-on.
And it’s clear that Walz can communicate clearly and directly about how his state-level work in Minnesota brought the kind of economic, racial and environmental justice that creates jobs, improves communities, and decreases extreme inequality.
As we head into the Democratic National Convention, Democrats all over the country — and here in New York — should take heed.
Gov. Hochul, Mayor Adams, and state party chair Jay Jacobs are instead championing the failed politics of corporate Democrats that have hurt millions of working people.
They’re still pushing policies that benefit the billionaire class and triangulating political messaging to try to fool voters — Bill Clinton style — into thinking they’re on the side of the working class. They’re tending to the needs of Wall Street, real estate and hedge fund billionaires who have donated to Donald Trump and Republican candidates, as well as to the think tanks driving divisive racist, misogynistic and anti-trans/anti-LGBTQ politics and policies.
In a triple-blue state like New York, we should be able to count on Democrats to stand up for the needs of the people. And we’ve got big, big issues: an affordability and inequality crisis that is crushing people with rising costs; a housing crisis with far too little affordable housing and far too much homelessness; a mental health crisis with inadequate public health resources; and new waves of asylum seekers who need homes, communities and jobs in the state that has historically benefited tremendously from immigrants arriving from all over the world.
But right now, Hochul and Adams are demonstrating they’re not interested in making government work on our most urgent problems.
Both have imposed unnecessary and destructive budget cuts for essential programs. Adams has lashed out at immigrants with inflammatory language while failing to make the government work effectively to care for those in need of emergency aid and shelter. On issues of crime, public safety, mental health and homelessness, both Hochul and Adams prioritize police over crime prevention and community investments.
Contrast them against the bold, solutions-oriented leadership from states with narrow Democratic majorities, like Minnesota and Michigan.
Last year, Walz signed free school lunches into law for all Minnesotans and fully funded a paid medical and family leave program for all, paid for by taxing the ultra-wealthy. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer repealed the anti-worker “Right to Work” laws in Michigan and passed a clean energy package, expansions for voting rights, protections for LGBTQ Michiganders, and gun reform.
It is partly this powerful show of progressive leadership that launched Walz into the national spotlight and got him on the ticket.
Hochul, Adams and Jacobs should lead New York into a transformative future of shared economic prosperity. They still have time to turn things around — but letting go of the whims and desires of their billionaire backers will be the first step.
The second step will be to tax corporations and the ultra-wealthy to fund strong and effective government action to address our current crises and meet the needs of regular New Yorkers.
The Harris-Walz campaign is poised to champion popular policies across political and geographical lines: a recent Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll showed big bipartisan support in swing states for a tax-the-rich/invest-in-communities approach, and other polls have shown similar support across parties, ideologies and regions in New York.
Hochul and Adams should take their cues from the Harris-Walz campaign: stop aligning with corporate values and start truly standing up for all New Yorkers. It’s time to differentiate the Democratic Party from the GOP — and that requires a new direction toward budgets and policies that put our communities first, and lead directly to better lives for working families, the most critical constituency for the political party they claim to lead.
Kink is executive director of the Strong Economy for All Coalition. Leirer is executive director of New York Communities For Change.