Maya Harris
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| Maya Harris | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Location: | New York, N.Y. | ||
| Education: | •University of California Berkeley •Stanford Law School | ||
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Maya Harris was a senior policy advisor for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.[1] She is a policy expert in policing and crime and has spent her career advocating for stronger civil rights protections for ethnic and racial minorities.
Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016
In April 2015, Hillary Clinton named Harris as one of her three senior policy advisors.[1] When she was hired, Vox looked at a white paper Harris published for the Center for American Progress, noting Harris interest in the potential impact of women of color on the 2016 election. Vox suggested that Harris' "basic political theory is an interesting signal of how Hillary Clinton's campaign might try to fashion its own version of Obama's coalition."[2] Fortune noted that many of Clinton's early speeches, including an April 29, 2015, speech denouncing the tough-on-crime policies of Bill Clinton's (D) presidency, echo "an argument Harris has made over the years while working at the ACLU, the Oakland-based group PolicyLink, and, most recently, liberal Center for American Progress in Washington."[3]
| More on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign staff |
|---|
| Staff overview |
| • Clinton staff overview |
Management and strategy |
| • Robby Mook, Campaign manager • Joel Benenson, Chief strategist and pollster • Amanda Renteria, Political director • John Podesta, Campaign chairman • Huma Abedin, Vice chair |
Communications |
| • Jennifer Palmieri, Communications director • Jim Margolis, Media advisor |
Policy and outreach |
| • Jake Sullivan, Senior policy advisor • Marlon Marshall, Director of state campaigns and political engagement • Maya Harris, Senior policy advisor • LaDavia Drane, Congressional liaison |
Working with Clinton
In a November 2015 interview with Elle, Harris explained how she and other policy advisors worked with Clinton to develop the campaign's policy messages. She said that the first issue Clinton wanted to address was substance abuse and mental health:[4]
| “ | People would tell her about addiction and loss and what it had done to their families. From that, she came back to the policy team and said, 'Look, I want you guys to dig in on this. I want you to meet the people I met on the trail. Talk to them.' And we did. We did Google hangouts with people in Iowa and New Hampshire. We spoke not only to people who have had issues with this in their own lives, but people on the ground—first responders, police officers, peer counselors. We engaged with all of these different people in all these different cities. And then we sat down with her to develop her policy. [5] | ” |
Democratic Party platform
In July 2016, Harris was the lead strategist involved in the campaign's efforts to help craft the platform of the Democratic Party. Harris was the lead campaign representative during pre-convention discussions of the platform's planks, including blocking an amendment that would have formally opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).[6] According to NBC News, Harris helped to negotiate a plank that called for restrictions on trade deals, but not TPP specifically. She said, "We are proud to stand with our friends in organized labor in passing a strong amendment to the Democratic platform on all trade deals, including the TPP."[7]
Comments on Trump maternity leave plan
Harris was the Clinton campaign's most vocal critic when Republican nominee Donald Trump proposed a series of policies on paid maternity leave and deducting childcare costs. Trump's plan called for six weeks of paid leave for new mothers that would be funded by eliminating fraud in the existing unemployment insurance program. Speaking with The Washington Post, Harris criticized the plan as out of touch with modern family structures. She said, "We’re not living in a 'Mad Men' era anymore, where only women are taking care of infants. ... It's just completely unserious. While his plan would undercut women in the workplace, it also provides no relief to working families."[8]
Career
Early career
At age 29, Harris—a graduate of the University of California Berkeley and Stanford Law School—became one of the youngest law school deans in the country when she took the position at the Lincoln Law School of San Jose.[3] She began her career as a clerk for James Ware in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and then worked as a private attorney at the firm Jackson Tufts Cole and Black, LLP.[9] Harris left private practice to work at PolicyLink, an Oakland-based civil rights advocacy group that focuses on policing issues specifically.[10]
ACLU Northern California chapter
In 2003, Harris joined the staff of the ACLU's Northern California chapter. She directed the group's racial justice project until becoming the associate director of the regional organization in 2005. As associate director, Harris was tasked with "developing and implementing the ACLU's priority campaigns and overseeing the Policy Department, including work in the areas of racial justice, police practices, and the death penalty." She became executive director of the group in October 2006.[11]
Nonprofit work
Harris left the ACLU in 2008 to join the Ford Foundation as vice president in the organization's Democracy, Rights and Justice program. Stanford Lawyer described her job in 2010: "She travels the world, to Africa, Asia, Latin America and throughout the United States, to discuss projects with field staff and grant recipients who are working on a range of issues from civil rights and human rights for women, to racial minorities and people living with HIV, to voter rights and democratic participation."[9]
In 2013, after five years at the Ford Foundation, Harris joined the Center for American Progress—a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Clinton aide John Podesta—as a senior fellow. In announcing her hiring, the center said, "Harris will work with CAP’s economic policy team, Progress 2050, and the Center’s new women’s initiative—the Fair Shot campaign—to develop new ideas to harness the economic power of women and people of color and to lift these communities to the center of our policy debates in Washington and around the country."[10]
Media
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Maya Harris'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Politico, "Clinton names top 3 wonks for campaign," April 14, 2015
- ↑ Vox, "Maya Harris is Hillary Clinton’s most interesting hire yet," April 16, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fortune, "Meet the woman who's guiding Hillary Clinton's stance on police reforms," June 3, 2015
- ↑ Elle, "When Hillary Clinton Needs Advice, She Turns to Maya Harris," November 24, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Washington Examiner, "Clinton camp vetoes anti-TPP plank, rankling Sanders backers," July 9, 2016
- ↑ NBC News, "Bernie Sanders Defeated on Trade in Democratic Platform Fight," July 9, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Clinton campaign slams Trump’s ‘Mad Men’-era maternity leave plan," September 13, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Stanford Lawyer, "Tony and Maya: Partners in Public Service," May 17, 2010
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Center for American Progress, "RELEASE: Maya Harris Joins the Center for American Progress as Senior Fellow," October 29, 2013
- ↑ ACLU, "ACLU Of Northern California Appoints New Executive Director To Lead Largest ACLU Affiliate In The Country," October 23, 2006
