In 1968, I ran in my first primary as a Democrat for the New York State Assembly.
I fought four more tough primaries against fellow Democrats David Dinkins and Robert Wagner Jr. for Manhattan Borough President, and then in 1985 I ran again against Ken Lippert for City Council Speaker.
In each primary, I had to work hard to prove myself to my party and to the voters. Those races have made me a better public servant and a better person.
Testing candidates through primaries and giving voters a say is the purpose of the democratic process and the purpose of the Democratic Party.
With Kamala Harris, this is not happening, and it’s one of the reasons the Democrats will lose to Donald Trump in November.
If Democratic leaders truly wanted to live up to their name, they would insist on an open convention in which delegates could freely choose their presidential nominee instead of Joe Biden.
Instead, Ms Harris is getting a free ride from the media and many in her party who failed to promote Mr Biden as competent and are now scrambling to position her as someone qualified to run for president.
The anti-Trump media is trying to deify her, Hollywood donors are trying to bolster her coffers, and the left is doing all it can to stay in power.
There’s just one problem: Harris is completely unqualified for the job.
Harris has been one of the worst vice presidents in history, failing miserably in virtually every task except for casting the tie-breaking vote on the massive spending bill that created the inflation from which we all suffer.
Her first order of business was to fix the border, but she never did. Instead, she fixed the border for the left, which means allowing millions of illegal immigrants into the country and supporting free healthcare for all of them.
She has no foreign policy experience, a background as a California prosecutor, and served less than one term as a U.S. senator.
She was never seriously tested at the national level and received zero votes as a presidential candidate.
She has turned her back on our democratic ally, Israel, even as she faces a three-pronged attack by Iranian proxies that are holding American citizens hostage. Her stance only reassures Hamas and signals the continuation of a weak, pro-Iranian policy.
This week, in her first speech as a 2024 presidential candidate, she promised a massive new spending plan. As a senator, she fully supported a $10 trillion Green New Deal.
That means a vote for Harris would be a vote for spending that could lead to a new wave of inflation, continued open borders that will cost billions of dollars, higher energy prices, and electric vehicle mandates.
From transgender issues to a complete ban on private health insurance, there isn’t a left-wing idea that Harris doesn’t support.
Freedom for her meant joining a union, not cultivating American individualism and innovation.
Her vision for the future is to expand government assistance for virtually everything.
Despite Harris’ trademark cackle, her selection would be no laughing matter.
The shortcomings and mistakes of the Biden-Harris administration will be magnified when the Vice President takes over the Oval Office. She is nothing less than a sequel to “The Great Hypocrite.”
Donald Trump has had to weather false accusations of racism, fines aimed at bankrupting him, partisan lawsuits aimed at imprisoning him, assassins’ bullets, and even a second presidential candidate after beating his first.
Don’t be fooled by all the fuss about Harris: she’s nothing more than the left’s new mask, a failed vice president who did nothing remarkable in her nearly four years in office.
After 25 years of elected Democratic office, I cannot in good conscience vote for Kamala Harris. I would have to vote for Donald Trump.
Andrew Stein, a Democrat, served as Speaker of the New York City Council from 1986 to 1994.
