Kamala Harris Wants To Remind You Democracy Is On the Ballot This November

On Nov. 8th, we’ll all be casting our votes in the upcoming midterm elections to determine which party has control of the House and Senate. These will be highly pivotal positions, which will impact issues such as voting and reproductive rights. And on Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris’s interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” was meant to sound the alarm on how substantial these elections are in terms of democracy itself.

In speaking to anchor Chuck Todd, Harris explicitly talked about the threats elected leaders pose who continue to question the 2020 Presidential election results.

From NBC News:

“I think what it sends is a signal that causes people to question, ‘Hey, is America still valuing what they talk about?’” she said. “I think that through the process of what we’ve been through, we’re starting to allow people to call into question our commitment to those principles. And that’s a shame.”

In addition to House and Senate control, there’s the Supreme Court which can issue many more landmark rulings in their next term to overturn rights, as they did with Roe v. Wade a few months ago. When questioned about the public’s outlook, Harris said she feels “this is an activist court.”

“We had an established right for almost half a century, which is the right of women to make decisions about their own body as an extension of what we have decided to be, the privacy rights to which all people are entitled. And this court took that constitutional right away, and we are suffering as a nation because of it.”

The Vice President may be fearful in the present, but she remains hopeful for the future. At the Democratic National Committee meeting, Harris spoke about a future she sees if Democrats add more seats to their slim majority.

“For me, as Vice President, I’m also president of the Senate. And — in our first year in office, some of the historians here may know I actually broke John Adams’s record of casting the most tiebreaking votes in a single term. How about that? How about that?”

She added: “That being the case, I cannot wait to cast the deciding vote to break the filibuster on voting rights and reproductive rights. I cannot wait. Fifty-nine days. Fifty-nine days.”

The Vice President said in her interview that the filibuster, in general, would likely stay in place for other issues. However, carveouts would be considered for abortion and voting rights, specifically.