MEMO: Women Leaders Uplift Vice President Harris & Her Strong Record

To: Allies and Interested Parties
Re: A Commitment to Uplift Vice President Harris and Her Strong Record of Leadership as Trump’s Selection of J.D. Vance Crystalizes the Stakes in the 2024 Election

Donald Trump’s selection of J.D. Vance at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee puts a new spotlight on the comparison between Vice President Kamala Harris and J.D. Vance. From the beginning, Republicans promised intensifying attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris – an accomplished, groundbreaking leader and the Democrats’ strongest messenger on the driving election issue of access to abortion and reproductive freedom. As we’ve seen before, these attacks will weaponize racism and misogyny as a tactic to throw red meat to Trump’s extremist MAGA base. They are an attempt to discredit an extraordinarily qualified and experienced leader and distract from the fact that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s Project 2025 Agenda – which includes decimating people’s fundamental freedoms – is wildly unpopular with voters. 

Trump’s announcement of J.D. Vance as his running mate confirms what has always been true: the ticket was always going to include a like-minded sycophant to Trump who will prioritize themselves and their interests over those of the American people, and will enable a national abortion ban and other extremist policies. Vice President Harris forcefully reminded us in June that no matter the pick, a Trump ticket will endanger fundamental freedoms across America. Trump’s selection of J.D. Vance crystalizes Vice President Harris’ warning.

As this election progresses, we expect Republicans to follow through on their plans to intensify the barrage of lies and disinformation aimed at Vice President Harris and designed to distract from their unpopular agenda. As women leaders, including as heads of organizations and unions representing a vast array of issues at stake in November, we understand the threat that the Trump-Vance ticket poses to fundamental freedoms and to our democracy. During the RNC, and every day between now and November 5, we are steadfast in our commitment to defending the Vice President, and our message will be grounded in two guiding principles: 

• First, we must call out these attacks for what they are – racist, sexist, fear mongering tactics – without repeating or amplifying the lies and disinformation. 

• Second, our most effective and powerful way to push back is to uplift, amplify, and remind audiences of Vice President Harris’ accomplishments and record of leadership for the American people – especially on key issues like abortion, gun violence prevention, and democracy. 

The increased attacks on Vice President Harris directly reflect the fact that Trump and Republicans are clearly threatened. They have never liked when powerful, accomplished women of color lead. They understand that she wins on the merits, and that she is fearless and compelling when holding Trump accountable. They know she will hold J.D. Vance accountable for his extremism, which includes voting to block IVF nationwide and advocating for a national abortion ban. They have watched her build momentum with voters across the country to shore up support for the Biden-Harris ticket. They have read the polling that shows how deeply unpopular their extremist agenda is with the American people and they know that her record of leadership on these issues – from abortion, to democracy, to gun violence prevention – beats theirs every time. 

Below are highlights of Vice President Harris’ accomplishments – in elected office and on the campaign trail – that illustrate the breadth of her decades-long career fighting for a safe, just, and equitable America. Join us in lifting up this incredible record throughout this week.

• Unparalleled leadership in the fight for reproductive freedom.
  • She is leading the most unapologetic campaign on abortion rights in history. 
  • She has galvanized voters across the country in nearly 100 events since the fall of Roe v. Wade. 
  • She has compassionately centered the lived experiences of abortion storytellers and providers, including being the first-ever sitting president or vice president to visit an abortion provider. 

• A decades-long track record of keeping communities safe from gun violence and standing up for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. 
  • She began her career as a prosecutor, specializing in child sexual assault cases in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office and often cites her experience discovering her best friend was a victim of sexual abuse as a reason she chose to focus on violence against children.
  • As District Attorney, she supported domestic violence victims, including by providing resources for immigrant and non-English speaking victims. 
  • As Attorney General, she created the Bureau of Children’s Justice.
  • She heads the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, where she has been instrumental in implementing new policies to close the so-called ‘gun show loophole,’ prevent domestic abusers from purchasing guns, and hire 14,000 additional school mental health counselors.
  • In the Senate, she co-sponsored critical gun violence prevention legislation, including requiring background checks on all gun sales and prohibiting abusive dating partners and stalkers from having guns. 

• A powerful advocate for America’s security and interests on the world stage.
  • As Vice President, Kamala Harris has traveled to 21 countries over 17 trips and has met with over 150 world leaders here and abroad.
  • She has twice led the United States’ presence to the Munich Security Conference, first meeting there with President Zelenskyy in 2022 with whom she has now met six times. Her international trips representing the Biden-Harris Administration include travel to Europe, South East Asia, and Africa. 

• A voting rights champion and a force in calling out Donald Trump’s anti-democratic behavior. 
  • Her experience as a prosecutor makes her particularly well-suited to effectively denounce Trump for what he is: an anti-democratic bigot who promises to be “a dictator on day one.” 
  • She has fiercely advocated for voting rights legislation and has repeatedly called on Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. 

• A champion for workers across America, small businesses and the middle class. 
  • Vice President Harris chairs the White House’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, fighting for worker rights such as dignity in the workplace, the right to a free and fair choice to join a union, and reducing barriers to worker organizing.
  • She has spearheaded the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to expand access to capital in underserved communities. 
  • In June 2024, she announced a new effort to ban medical debt from credit reports – a significant step for women and people of color, who are more likely to struggle with medical debt than their male and white counterparts.
  • She leveraged the private sector to catalyze new streams of financing for community lenders that support minority, rural, and low-income communities by launching the Economic Opportunity Coalition.

• Fighting to lower the cost of caregiving for working families across America.
  • She has fought tirelessly to help families struggling with the high cost of caregiving and ensure that everyone has access to quality care.
  • In April 2024, she announced two landmark rules to improve long-term care and support the economy: one to improve elder care and crack down on nursing homes that endanger resident safety, and one that improves home care for seniors and people living with disabilities. 
  • In February 2024, she announced the Biden-Harris Administration’s critical step to lower the cost of child care for more than 100,000 working families who receive federal child care assistance. 

• A dedicated leader on maternal health. 
  • She has led national efforts to elevate the Black maternal health care crisis as a national priority. 
  • In July 2024 she announced new maternal health standards and led the first-ever Maternal Health Day of Action, wherein she issued a call for states to expand postpartum Medicaid for a full year, expanding the number of states from 3 to 46.
  • As Senator, she led the Maternal CARE Act to address the crisis and reduce racial disparities in maternal mortality. 

• A champion for LGBTQ+ Rights
  • Leading on marriage equality from the beginning, then-District Attorney Kamala Harris performed one of the nation’s first same-sex marriages in 2004. 
  • As California attorney general, Kamala Harris refused to defend Proposition 8, which barred same-sex marriages in the state, and performed the first same-sex wedding after Proposition 8 was blocked by the courts.
  • At the signing of the Defense of Marriage Act, which enshrined the right to marriage in federal law, President Biden handed Vice President Harris the pen in recognition of her long-standing work on the issue.
  • She’s worked by President Biden’s side to initiate executive actions and rulemakings including federal employment protections for LGBTQ+ people, and expanding mental health resources for LGBTQ+ youth.

• A champion for environmental justice. 
  • She has stood up to Big Oil and fought for the communities most impacted by pollution. As District Attorney, she established one of the first environmental justice units in the nation. 
  • As Attorney General, she defended critical laws protecting clean air and clean water while holding polluters accountable, including for the Santa Barbara oil spill. 
  • As Senator, she introduced legislation on clean water, lead pipes, electric vehicles, and drought and wildfire resilience – proposals that were eventually included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Now that her campaign counterpart is named and as the GOP ramps up its bad-faith attacks on our Vice President, we pledge to do everything possible to respond by driving attention where it belongs: on Vice President Harris’ outstanding leadership in elected office and on the campaign trail.  

We also call on the media to be intentional and vigilant about not repeating Trump, Vance and Republicans’ lies about Vice President Harris. We know it is not the media’s job to highlight a candidate’s work, but they owe it to their readers to do better than just amplifying lies without providing fact-checking or context that calls out racist, sexist tropes for what they are. 

Signed,
Fatima Goss Graves, President & CEO, National Women’s Law Center Action Fund
Jessica Mackler, President, EMILYs List
Ai-jen Poo, Senior Advisor, Care In Action
Alencia Johnson, Chief Impact Officer, 1063 West Broad
April Verrett, President, Service Employees International Union
Alexis McGill Johnson, President, Planned Parenthood Action
Becky Pringle, President, National Education Association
Bel Leong-Hong, Founding Vice Chair, AAPI Victory Fund
Emma Brown, Giffords
Glynda Carr, President, Higher Heights for America
Jocelyn Frye, President, National Partnership for Women and Families Action Fund
Kelley Robinson, President, Human Rights Campaign
Leah D. Daughtry, President, Power Rising Action Fund
Lorella Praeli, Co-President, Community Change Action
Maria Teresa Kumar, President, Voto Latino
Melanie Campbell, Chair, Power of the Ballot Action Fund
Mini Timmaraju, President & CEO, Reproductive Freedom For All
Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers
Stefanie Brown James, Co-Founder, The Collective PAC
Teresa Romero, President, United Farm Workers
Tina Tchen