Vice President Kamala Harris will need to prevail in swing states like Michigan in order to clear a path to the White House in November. Grassroots progressive organizations like Michigan Liberation Action Fund, whose goal is to end mass incarceration, are knocking on doors to win over votes in the final push. In past elections, the group was quick to support Democratic candidates for president, but Harris initially proved a tough sell to its members.
Out of the gate, Harris’ campaign portrayed her as a tough prosecutor able to take on former President Donald Trump, a convicted felon. That framing made some members of the group uncomfortable. “We don’t want this to come about to where it’s the prosecutor against a convicted felon. Because I’m a convicted felon,” Demetrius Knuckles, 51, a Michigan Liberation member and podcaster, said back in August. Days earlier, at the Democratic National Convention, several prominent party members — including Sen. Elizabeth Warren — echoed this characterization of the race.
