Can Wall St. Help Harris Win Pennsylvania?

ImageWhere Wall Street intersects with the Harris campaignDespite entering the presidential contest only about three months ago, Vice President Kamala Harris has shattered fund-raising expectations — in large part because she has managed to win over many of the business donors who had been lukewarm about President Biden.At the same time, the Harris campaign has paid more attention to corporate America’s concerns, and in at least one case has made a tax policy pledge that reflects executives’ interests, The Times’s Andrew Duehren and DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch report.The big question is whether Wall Street’s growing support will be enough to win over key swing states, like Pennsylvania.The race is still neck-and-neck even though the economy is growing solidly and the stock market is sitting at a record high.Harris has sought to burnish her capitalist credentials.

One of Donald Trump’s most frequent attack lines has been to paint her as a far-left radical who would destroy the economy.Her defense has been to reach out to top business executives (an effort led in large part by Tony West, Harris’s brother-in-law and Uber’s chief legal officer).That has meant taking meetings across Wall Street and listening to ideas from supporters including Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur who has pitched ways to bolster artificial intelligence and other areas.That is being reflected in what Harris has said on the trail, according to The Times:She has indicated she’d be less zealous about enforcing antitrust — though she hasn’t endorsed calls to remove Lina Khan as chair of the F.T.C.

— and she has been more conciliatory to the crypto community;She has proposed raising the corporate tax rate by less than Biden had proposed and suggested that she wouldn’t seek to tax unrealized investment gains, a proposal that Wall Street donors detest;She has endorsed the idea of giving more tax breaks to companies that allowed workers to become part owners, an idea ...