Kamala Harris insists she's still a 'top tier' 2020 contender; claims Trump has 'debased' the presidency
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris insists she’s still a top-tier contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
“Of course I’m part of that top tier and we all know that,” the California Democrat told Fox News and Seacoast Online on Friday evening, during an interview before headlining a party fundraising gala in Portsmouth, N.H.
In late June, Harris saw her poll numbers surge after what was regarded as a strong performance in the first round of Democratic presidential primary debates in Miami, when she knocked former Vice President and 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden on his heels over his opposition to federally mandated school busing integration.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HARRIS SAYS SHE SUPPORTS PLASTIC STRAW BAN
But Harris has seen a slight deterioration of her poll numbers in recent weeks. She currently registers in the upper single digits in most polling in the race for the Democratic nomination. At the same time, most surveys show Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts battling for second place behind Biden, who remains the leader with five months to go until voting gets underway on the primary and caucus calendar.
Harris once again highlighted that New Hampshire – which holds the first primary in the race for the White House – is “a priority for me. That’s why we have offices on the ground. We have staff on the ground.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And she emphasized that she’s not worried about her current poll position, noting that “the only poll that matters is on Election Day.”
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Later, in her speech to the Portsmouth Democrats, Harris took aim at President Trump.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We’ve got a guy in the White House who has debased the office of president,” she highlighted. “He doesn’t understand what it means to be powerful. Because when you truly understand what it means to be powerful, you understand that the greatest measure of your strength is not who you beat down, it’s who you lift up.”
“We’ve got a guy in the White House who has debased the office of president. He doesn’t understand what it means to be powerful. Because when you truly understand what it means to be powerful, you understand that the greatest measure of your strength is not who you beat down, it’s who you lift up.”
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Harris, as she often does in her stump speeches, said she was the Democratic White House hopeful best qualified prosecute the case against Trump.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But she added: "This campaign has to be bigger than that. It has to be more than that.”