Democratic activists in Europe say voters and even non-US locals are newly energized about US Vice President Kamala Harris and her likely candidature against Republican Donald Trump in upcoming US presidential election.
An “amazing phenomenon” — that is what Amy Porter, a spokesperson for Democrats Abroad, or DA, calls what’s happened in France over the last week. Since President Joe Biden’s decision to pass the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris, Porter said the organization, which represents the US’ Democrat party globally, has seen a surge in registration of new voters and in volunteers offering to help on the campaign.
Perhaps more remarkably, she told DW, they’ve had “local people, French people, non-US citizens reaching out to us and saying, 'I would like to help’” get Harris elected. In her decades volunteering with the organization, Porter said she’s only seen this “once in a blue moon.”
Given how prominent an ally the U.S. is, the rise of the alt-right and increasingly fascistic tendencies lends a legitimacy to that viewpoint I’d rather not see. I naturally don’t put sole blame on the U.S. for the western sphere leaning more and more fascist, but it’s certainly set a precedent making it easier for others to follow.