Maribel Hastings

Posted August 29, 2024

 

 

If anything stands out from the Democratic National Convention, it’s the united front that this party seeks to demonstrate, confronting the threat that a second presidential term for Republican Donald Trump poses for many on various fronts. A threat to democracy, the rights of women, minorities, and workers, the environment, and immigrants, who are a fundamental part of the fabric of this nation.

 

The Democrats learned the lesson from 2016 when Hillary Clinton became the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major party after a brutal primary against Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats. I was at the 2016 Convention in Philadelphia, and the divisions and discontent of the Sanders wing were palpable on the convention floor.

 

There were many causes for Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016. One of them was that many “Sanderistas” didn’t get out and vote for Clinton, thinking that her victory was a given. What followed were four years of Trump, with all of his excesses and cruelty, like his unrelenting war on immigrants.

 

In 2020, Democratic pragmatism led to the nomination of Joe Biden as the only candidate capable of appealing to diverse groups of voters, especially white men, to compete against Trump. Biden won in the middle of the pandemic, and since that election, the central message has been that Trump is a danger to U.S. democracy.

 

The bloody January 6, 2021 riot, led by Trump to impede certification of Biden’s victory, demonstrated what he is capable of doing to hold onto power.

 

That same pragmatism led them to conclude that Biden had a scant chance of winning against Trump in 2024 and that replacing him with someone capable of energizing voters was better. Someone who also reflects the diversity of races, accents, and cultures that coexist in this experiment called the United States.

 

Harris, the daughter of immigrants, is rising as the Democrat standard bearer to become a nightmare for Trump since this combination has thrown the anti-immigrant misogynist on his heels.

 

Among the various parallels between the Harris campaign and that of Barack Obama in 2008, the Democratic nominee is activating the same coalition of women, African Americans, Hispanics, young people, and other voters that catapulted Obama in 2008 and, in 2020, supported Biden—but whose backing had chilled.

 

A new poll from Univision Noticias and YouGov found that “Harris has 55% favorability among Hispanic voters, while 53% of those surveyed would vote for her if the elections were held today.” Trump has 38% support among those Hispanics surveyed.

 

Immigration is among the first four issues of interest for Hispanic voters: inflation, the economy and jobs, immigration, and abortion.

 

Immigration reform continues to be an unresolved issue election after election.

 

The Democrats’ mistakes in dealing with this matter have been several over previous years, allowing Republicans, the primary obstacle to legislative immigration reform, to take control of the narrative.

 

Hope is making a comeback.”
First Lady Michelle Obama

 

But Harris, a firm defender of the Dreamers, maintains her support for broad immigration reform with a border security component, combined with paths to legal immigration, the defense of programs like TPS and DACA, and recent executive actions like extending protections to certain undocumented spouses and step-children of U.S. citizens (Parole in Place) through the Keeping Families Together program

 

The support from Harris and the Democrats for a border security measure that did not progress in the Senate because Trump asked for it not to, to further exploit the issue in the elections, has angered some pro-immigrant sectors.

 

But nothing compares to Trump’s Machiavellian plan for mass deportations, included in Project 2025, which would generate a humanitarian, legal, and economic nightmare if it were implemented.

 

Harris has not made the mistake of making promises with an expiration date on the migration front. However, Trump’s anti-immigrant promises began materializing in 2017 and some were eventually stopped in the courts. If he wins, he already has a plan to revive them and overcome previous hurdles.

 

If 2016 and 2020 were crucial elections, the 2024 one is even more because we already lived through a Trump presidency, and we know, with certainty, the danger that it represents for various groups, especially immigrants.

 

“We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” said former President Obama on August 20.

 

However, as former First Lady Michelle Obama declared, “Hope is making a comeback.” And it’s facing off against extremism from the hand of an unexpected candidate.

 

 

Maribel Hastings is a Senior Advisor to América’s Voice.