Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) took a shot at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over the weekend, telling a crowd in Iowa that she is “not trying to start a revolution” and reaffirming that she is “not a socialist.”
Harris, who has continued to tumble in both early state polls and national polls, spoke to a crowd in Washington, Iowa, over the weekend and took a veiled shot at one of her fiercest competitors.
“I’m not trying to upend and blow up systems. I’m not trying to start a revolution. I am not a socialist,” Harris told the crowd, repeating the buzzwords typically espoused by Sanders and his supporters:
Sanders teased the creation of a “new America” during his “Bernie’s Back Rally” in New York last month and called for “a political revolution” during a speech at Denver’s Civic Center in September.
“I am here in Denver asking your support for more than just defeating Trump,” Sanders said. “I am here to ask you to help me transform this country and create an economy and government that works for all of us, not just the one percent.”
“I am here in Denver to ask you to wage with me a political revolution, which will take on not only the corruption of Washington, but the greed and corruption of the corporate elite in this country,” he continued.
While Harris attempted to distance herself from her more radical socialist opponents during her speech, she outlined what she views as flaws with capitalism.
“But what I do know is this – capitalism assumes that everyone is starting out on the same base, and then people will compete, and the best will rise,” she said.
“Well, in American [sic] today, the majority of people aren’t starting out on the same base, and we’ve got to lift people up and in particular working people and working families,” she continued. “So, a large part of my agenda is focused on that.”
Harris’s stance parallels Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, who has called herself a capitalist, despite supporting many of the same radial socialist policies put forth by Sanders, who is by and large her ideological ally.
Harris’s remarks reflect her ongoing battle to garner support in Iowa, where she has devoted the majority of her focus. The latest Real Clear Politics average shows the California lawmaker in sixth place, behind Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), Warren, Sanders, Joe Biden (D), and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) with just 3.3 percent support.