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Writer's pictureAlex Kawa

Climate Reporter Calls Kamala Harris a "Climate Hawk." Do Her Donations Tell a Different Story?


On Saturday, Quartz climate reporter Michael J. Coren wrote a piece in the publication titled "Kamala Harris signals the rise of the 'climate voter'," explaining how the issue of climate change has rapidly become a top issue for voters, particularly among Democrats, and touting the presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee's record on the issue, claiming that, among the other potential choices to be presumptive nominee Joe Biden's running mate, few "had a stronger record than Harris on this issue." Coren then goes on to explain:

"Harris, the former attorney general of California, made it clear during the campaign she would hold fossil fuel companies’ feet to the fire after making a career suing fossil fuel companies on grounds of environmental justice (as San Francisco’s district attorney, she set up the city’s first environmental justice unit). The ex-prosecutor has promised to push for passage of the Green New Deal under her $10 trillion climate plan, abolishing the Senate filibuster if necessary, and go after oil and gas firms fueling rising greenhouse gas emissions, at CNN’s climate town hall last September. She wants to eliminate net emissions in the US by 2045."

Despite Coren's praise of Harris for her record on climate change, with him calling her a "climate hawk," several campaign contributions the California senator has taken, both during her 2016 Senate and 2020 presidential campaigns, may raise questions.


As mentioned in my previous blog post, Wall Street leaders were happy with former vice president Biden's choice of Harris as his running mate. This is important because, according to Stop the Money Pipeline, "[a] campaign targeting the financial sector’s support of the climate crisis," Wall Street banks are financial contributors to fossil fuel projects across the country. As they state:

"Chase. Wells Fargo. Citi. Bank of America. These banks are loaning billions to the fossil fuel industry.
"If you bank with them, your money is being used to fund climate chaos.
"It’s time for people of conscience to align their money with their values."

As I reported in the aforementioned blog post, throughout her career, Harris has received donations from Wall Street leaders, and in 2016, Citigroup contributed to a number of PACs that ended up donating to the then-attorney general's Senate campaign. Two of the other three companies also contributed to these PACs that same election cycle. For example, JPMorgan Chase contributed $10,000 each to the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, Dakota Prairie PAC, Forward Together PAC, Great Lakes PAC, and Motor City PAC, while Bank of America gave Impact $10,000, and both gave Blue Hen PAC $10,000 each. Respectively, during the 2016 election cycle, Harris received $15,000, $10,000, $5,000, $5,000, $1,500, $10,000, and $5,000 from these PACs.


Furthermore, during her unsuccessful campaign for president this election, Harris received several large donations from high-ranking individuals in these companies. Her top donor from JPMorgan Chase was Clarence Nunn, a managing director who contributed $2,800. From Wells Fargo, she received $5,600 from vice president Monisha Mapp, and $2,800 each from senior vice president Ingrid Moore, as well as executive vice presidents Beverly Anderson and Yvette Hollingsworth Clark. Meanwhile, Citigroup executive Raymond McGuire, general counsel and corporate secretary Rohan Weerasinghe, and Global Head of Real Estate Thomas Flexner each gave $2,800 to the senator.


In spite of these potentially problematic donations to Harris over her career, Coren believes that having Harris on the ticket "might bring some of those non-voting environmentalists off the sidelines."

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