Page 67 of 107 Days

I was in Las Vegas to record “Los Latinos Preguntan… Kamala Harris Responde,” a town hall with a hundred undecided Latino voters to be shown that night on Univision.

The questions—on prices, on immigration—were not particular to the Latino community. They were the same concerns that all Americans had.

But one woman became distressed as she spoke of her mother, who had died just six weeks earlier, unable to get US citizenship in her lifetime, even after years in America and having children who had grown up as citizens.

As illness overtook her, she had been unable, as a noncitizen ineligible for Medicare, to afford proper medical attention.

It was an emotional moment for me. I thought of how painful it had been, watching my mother in the late stages of cancer, even with the benefit of access to good health care. I remembered trying to find soft sweaters that would not irritate her skin, trying to cook foods that she could still enjoy.

I felt for this loving daughter, who had probably done all those things for her mother and yet been unable to access the medical care that may have prolonged her life or eased her pain.

One of the first bills we tried to pass within hours of Joe Biden taking the oath of office was for comprehensive immigration reform that would have provided a pathway to citizenship for hardworking, longtime residents.

But it was not taken up by Congress.

Democrats, rather than Republicans, got the lion’s share of the blame for failing to provide a pathway to citizenship. The Latino vote began to steadily drift away from us, starting in 2016.

The Latino vote is no monolith, and a variety of factors were at play. For anyone struggling to afford gas or eggs, inflation was certainly a factor. Though I had a jobs and investment agenda that would have benefited Latinos, it was rolled out October 22nd—too late to really resonate.

For the grieving woman in front of me, both parties had failed her mother, failed her.

In these settings, which are high stress and high stakes, it is important to stay focused and on message. But it is also important to respond as a human. I have said countless times that there is more that unites us than divides us, and sometimes you must feel it as well as say it.

It requires an enormous amount of emotional dexterity. It isn’t easy.

And then there was the last question of the town hall: Could I name three virtues that Donald Trump possessed?

Really? Do I have to?

“I think Donald Trump loves his family, and I think that’s very important…” I racked my brain for something else. “I don’t really know him, to be honest with you. I only met him one time, on the debate stage. I’d never met him before.

“So I don’t really have much more to offer you.”

It was a tougher day than usual to be trying to enumerate Trump’s virtues. We’d just learned, from Bob Woodward’s reporting, that at the height of Covid, when Americans were scrambling to get their hands on scarce Covid tests, Trump had secretly sent tests to Vladimir Putin for his personal use.

I was heading from the town hall to a rally in Phoenix, where I would meet with young Native American leaders from a half dozen different tribes, including the Gila River tribe.

I’d met many of the young people from that tribe a year earlier, when Doug and I had visited their tribal lands.

They had been the first tribe to partner with the federal government to create a community school that was fully Native built, Native owned, and Native run.

I’d been inspired by those young leaders, especially their knowledge of and commitment to climate solutions based on traditional knowledge and stewardship.

We have so much to learn from indigenous people about how to treat this fragile Earth.

They were custodians of this land for thousands of years.

Their long-term thinking, considering the ramifications of each decision on seven generations, makes a lot more sense than making decisions based on four-year political cycles or corporate quarterly earnings.

Native Americans serve in our military at the highest rate of any population in our country. I wondered how many Native veterans could have used the test kits Trump sent to Putin, as their communities were ravaged by the virus.