Harris offers proposals to cut food and housing costs, trying to blunt Trump’s economic attacks

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about the economy at a campaign event at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday. Some of Trump’s economic advisors offered further rebuttals to Harris’ plans before she spoke Friday, with Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the former president’s campaign, calling them representative of a “socialist and authoritarian model.” Kevin Hassett, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Trump administration, called it “completely preposterous” for the government to play a role in setting food prices, a reference to Harris’ proposed federal ban on “corporate price-gouging” on food. Roy Cooper told Friday’s crowd, “I have that 2008 feeling.” North Carolina State University political science professor Steven Greene said that the state “went from a situation where Joe Biden was almost surely going down in defeat here, whereas Kamala Harris has a very real chance of winning,” Deborah Holder, a 68-year-old Raleigh resident who runs six McDonald’s restaurants, said of the vice president, “Her culture is something that is going to be a huge strength for her, because she’ll be able to look at the rest of us not just as her constituents, but as people that she has dealt with in all walks of life.” Harris is trying to strike a balance in defining her own image and economic agenda while crediting the Biden administration’s track record. Her speech in North Carolina came a day after the president was asked if Harris might distance herself from his economic record and responded, “She’s not going to.” In their first joint speaking event since Biden dropped out, he and Harris were in Maryland on Thursday, where they showcased successful negotiations to lower prices for Medicare recipients on 10 prescription drugs. But Harris spent far more time talking about Trump than Biden in North Carolina, promising “to build an America where everyone’s work is rewarded and talents are valued, where we work with labor and business to strengthen the American economy.” “And where everyone has the opportunity,” she said, “not just to get by, but to get ahead.” Associated Press writers Seminera reported from Raleigh and Brown from Washington.