Far-left allies of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris are hoping to fill the national security openings in her administration with personnel who want to push progressive policies on numerous international issues, including the Israel-Hamas war, Politico reported Tuesday.
Unlike President Joe Biden, whose list of long-standing advisers from his 50-year career in politics left little room for the new progressive flank, Harris will likely seek to define her own presidency and bring "new blood" to her administration. A progressive Defense Department official told Politico Harris’s connection to the far-left wing of her party offers opportunities for that administration to be heavily progressive.
"She’s friends with so many progressive people, and there’s so many progressive people in that sphere that it changes the playing field," the official said.
The initiative from progressive allies reveals Harris’s close ties to the radical left sector of her party, which could hurt the vice president’s appeal to moderate voters. Though her campaign has tried to walk back her left-leaning agenda, Harris has garnered a long progressive rap sheet during her years in public service.
As vice president, Harris defended anti-Israel campus agitators, saying she "understands the emotion behind" protesters' actions, including calling for the elimination of Israel. In 2019, she was named the "most liberal" senator, backing the Green New Deal and Medicare For All.
Progressive party members are hopeful that, if elected, Harris will build a progressive "bench" with members who would take more anti-Israeli stances on the war in Gaza and ease anti-China sentiment in Washington to avoid a conflict in the region.
"We haven’t had the opportunity to build as big of a bench of people with this high-level experience," said Matthew Duss, a progressive foreign policy thinker who has advised Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.). "What I’m hoping is that the vice president and her team will commit to helping us build that bench, because these are going to be the people who eventually can develop and execute and implement a foreign policy that is actually fit for this moment."
Some of these progressives unsuccessfully lobbied to bring their people into Biden’s administration in 2020 but are hoping to have more success with Harris due to her far-left record.
"We’re definitely hopeful she can bring in new blood," said Yasmine Taeb, one of the progressive activists who regularly met with Biden aides during the transition.
"I favor a ‘clean sweep’—we badly need some new thinking in U.S. foreign policy," said Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia engagement at Defense Priorities, which supports a more restrained U.S. foreign policy.