Harris to target price gouging in first policy speech in North Carolina

[August 14, 2024]  By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will make her first policy-centered speech as Democratic presidential candidate on Friday, taking aim at price gouging, in a sign her whirlwind campaign could rattle big companies and corporate executives.

Harris will travel to Raleigh, in North Carolina, a state Democrats hope to flip this election, to outline her plan "to lower costs for middle-class families and take on corporate price-gouging," her campaign said on Tuesday.

Harris canceled an event in North Carolina last week because of Tropical Storm Debby. Focusing her first major policy speech on the economy, and locating it in North Carolina shows how her campaign has revived Democrats' hopes of flipping a state they have only won twice in the last half-century.

With less than three months before the Nov. 5 election when she takes on Republican Donald Trump, Harris has drawn new enthusiasm and dollars to the ticket after President Joe Biden stepped aside, and seen polls swing in her favor in some states.

Her campaign sees states like Pennsylvania as a must-win, but North Carolina is more of a reach. Biden lost the state to Trump by a 1.3% margin - just 74,000 votes, but his prospects there were dim before he stepped down on July 21.

TARGETING CORPORATE GREED

Harris' speech will be closely watched to see how her style or substance differs from Biden, whose economic policies received low marks from voters angry about the cost of housing, medicine, groceries and gasoline.

On Saturday, Harris announced her support for eliminating taxes on tips, a position similar to Trump's. Harris will hold a White House event with Biden on Thursday that is expected to focus on healthcare costs.

U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event with Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, at the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan, U.S., August 8, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

Biden has blamed corporate greed for still-elevated prices, accusing companies of boosting profits by shrinking portion sizes and by failing to pass on falling costs to consumers.

Big consumer goods companies have hiked prices in recent quarters, and food prices have risen 25% between 2019 and 2023.

Harris policed "corporate greed and price gouging" when she was California's attorney general from 2011 through 2016, challenging pharmaceutical, oil, electronics and cosmetics companies, a campaign official said.

Harris "knows costs are too high and will make tackling inflation a 'Day One' priority," added the official who declined to be identified speaking about the event beforehand.

The approach marks a striking difference from Trump, who has argued that loosening regulations on industries from finance to energy will lower costs and spur growth.

Nationally, Harris was ahead of Trump by five percentage points, 42% to 37%, in an Ipsos poll published on Thursday, widening her lead from a July 22-23 Reuters/Ipsos survey.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons, Clarence Fernandez and Deepa Babington)

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