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Vice President Kamala Harris is in a neck-and-neck race for the presidency with Donald Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris is the clear and obvious person Americans need to vote for in Tuesday’s presidential election. Her views on abortion access, education, immigration, and healthcare make her the most progressive and honorable candidate in this election, and we students at The AMSA Voice feel duty bound as a staff to endorse her candidacy. 

One of Ms. Harris’s first priorities is to win the fight for a woman’s reproductive rights. She has sponsored, investigated, and championed various bills and acts that ease barriers to abortion access.  

One of these is the Reproductive FACT Act that Ms. Harris co-sponsored during her time as California’s attorney general. The act mandated, among other things, that crisis pregnancy centers notify their patients that although abortion care is not offered at these centers, it is available elsewhere in the state. 

“Ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom, like the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do,” Ms. Harris said during a campaign event in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Oct. 28.

Ms. Harris has pledged – if such a bill is passed by Congress – to sign into law legislation that restores the federal right to abortion.

“Any threat to women’s reproductive rights is very personal to me, which is something that has made me more invested in this election,” English teacher Paige Percoskie said. 

Young people have so much potential to influence this election. Circle, a research organization based at Tufts University, reports that Gen Z makes up about 40 million potential voters. According to polling data, Ms. Harris is winning the hearts of Gen Z by a landslide. 

According to Newsweek, Ms. Harris is ahead among young voters on almost every major issue, including the economy, healthcare, and social issues. The vice president has said numerous times that she loves Gen Z, and she believes its call for change is inspiring and invigorating. 

“But also I think for young women to see a female president in their lifetime at a younger age, and knowing in the next election there could be two women who are the final candidates, could be really powerful,” Mrs. Percoskie said.

As a school newspaper, The AMSA Voice has a vested interest in education, and Ms. Harris has education as a primary focus, including improving working conditions and pay for teachers, a much needed change.

With the rise of book bans and curriculum changes, it is an unstable time for teachers. We believe putting a president in office who will work to protect teachers’ rights and protect intellectual freedom, including access to controversial literature, is crucial.

The Democratic Party platform also calls for expansion of social and emotional support for students and for increased funding for English language learner education. 

Ms. Harris understands the importance of diversity and equality within education, and attended a historically black university, Howard University in Washington, D.C. It gives her a perspective on diversity in higher education that no other presidential candidate has had. 

Criticism that Ms. Harris has failed on the job over the past four years, and blaming her alone for the troubles of the administration of President Joe Biden, is both unfair and illogical. The vice president has very little actual power, and Mr. Biden’s presidency is his, not that of Ms. Harris, who has her own ideas and plans for the future.

Immigration policy is an overriding issue of this campaign. Republican candidate Donald Trump takes a consistently degrading and insulting approach when talking about immigrants. He persistently pushes xenophobic ideals, disregarding a massive portion of America’s population. Ms. Harris takes an alternative approach, promising to make significant changes once elected. 

“I had many students who were really upset and genuinely scared [when talking about the issue], especially students who were children of immigrants,” AMSA history department Chair Brianna Murphy said of the 2016 election, when Mr. Trump adopted a similar approach to the issue.

Mr. Trump’s often violent imagery concerning immigrants instills fear in every part of the population, and his solution to the immigration issue seems focused almost solely on deporting millions of people currently in the country.  

Ms. Harris recognizes the many challenges in fixing the problem, but she has promised to close all privately run immigration detention centers, as well as help clear an easier path to gaining citizenship.

Both immigrants and Americans at large are facing a severe housing crisis, which Ms. Harris has vowed to address; her plan includes financial assistance for first-time home buyers. 

On a larger economic scale, Mr. Trump’s primary goal of tax cuts will primarily benefit the high upper class, and his current plan on taxes and tariffs, according to experts, will significantly increase the national debt.

Ms. Harris plans to target support for small businesses and working families above all else. Part of her economic plan is to restore the Expanded Child Tax Credit, helping parents with low-income jobs support their families and children more effectively.

Ms. Harris additionally plans to cut taxes for working people, while working to lower healthcare, food, prescription drug, and energy costs. 

It is simply impossible, when looking at Mr. Trump’s presidency, his three campaigns, and his career, to overlook his disrespect for people and institutions and his contempt for seemingly everything that doesn’t serve him. This runs the gamut from rudely interrupting opponents during debates to being convicted of 34 felonies.

As the young people who will one day inherit this country and take responsibility for it, we want to endorse a candidate who differs from Mr. Trump, someone who will approach the presidency with respect, eloquence, and with the best interest of the American people in mind. With that, Kamala Harris is the right woman for the job, and we believe she will meet America’s needs.