Staff Reports
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is experiencing a curious case of amnesia, claiming she no longer supports electric vehicle (EV) mandates after years of gleefully championing them. In a recent email to supporters, the Harris campaign cleverly backpedaled, asserting that the vice president does not back an EV mandate, sending shockwaves through her own past support for such policies. It seems that the political winds have shifted, and Harris is now trying to appear more palatable to voters who are not quite on board with the whole “no gasoline, all-electric future” vibe she once adored.
During her time in the Senate, Harris was anything but subtle about her electric dreams. She cosponsored the Zero-Emissions Vehicle Act of 2019, which essentially mandated that car manufacturers only peddle zero-emission vehicles by 2040. The earlier enthusiasm for her green agenda now appears to be a liability in a campaign where reality is catching up to the lofty ideals she once promoted. The new email from her campaign, signed by Ammar Moussa, the Director of Rapid Response, raises eyebrows as it seeks to disassociate Harris from her previous enthusiasm for EV mandates. Is this an attempt to sugarcoat her record, or simply a comedy of errors?
The Harris campaign is now claiming that she doesn't support an Electric Vehicle (EV) mandate.
When she was a senator, Harris cosponsored the Zero-Emissions Vehicle Act of 2019, which contained a requirement for car manufacturers to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2040. pic.twitter.com/nx7BhFfvQz
— Amber Duke (@ambermarieduke) August 27, 2024
The confusion does not stop there. A deep dive into Harris’s history with the Green New Deal reveals bold plans that would have effectively phased out gas-powered cars completely by 2035. Her ambitious agenda aimed for a whopping 50 percent of all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2030, swiftly ramping up to 100 percent by 2035. In addition, she advocated for all new buses to follow suit, bringing public transport into the brave new world of electric buses. Now, one can’t help but wonder if her campaign thinks voters have forgotten these audacious plans, or if they simply expect everyone to ignore their verbal gymnastics.
As she resides in the high office of vice president, Harris has remained staunchly in favor of President Biden’s EV mandate, which mandates that the majority of new vehicles sold by 2032 must be either electric or hybrid. The U.S. Oil & Gas Association had a field day with this sudden change of heart, predicting disastrous consequences for the economy and American jobs. With a Harris campaign that is distancing itself from its roots, questions about the viability of these mandates—and their impact on the U.S. auto industry—are resurfacing, especially since electric vehicles require significantly less labor to manufacture than traditional internal combustion engine cars.
Public sentiment is not in Harris’s favor, either. A recent Harvard-Harris poll indicates that a staggering 72 percent of registered voters oppose the Biden-Harris EV mandate. Among these detractors, 57 percent identified as Democrats, 77 percent as swing voters, and an eye-watering 83 percent as Republicans. This broad rejection indicates a clear signal from the electorate: forcing them into electric vehicles isn’t winning hearts or votes. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance have made bold promises to eliminate the EV mandate if elected, vowing to protect the American auto industry and save consumers from financial doom. As Harris and her team scramble to rewrite history, it seems the clock is ticking on how long such ideological gymnastics can continue without repercussions at the ballot box.
