As Vice President Kamala Harris makes a broad play to the political center, some Democrats worry that she is going too far in her bid to win over moderates who are skeptical of former President Donald J. Trump. In private — and increasingly in public as Election Day fast approaches — they say she risks chilling Democratic enthusiasm by alienating progressives and working-class voters.
In making her closing argument this month, Ms. Harris has campaigned four times with Liz Cheney, the Republican former congresswoman, stumping with her more than with any other ally. She has appeared more in October with the billionaire Mark Cuban than with Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers and one of the nation’s most visible labor leaders.
She has centered her economic platform on middle-class issues like small businesses and entrepreneurship rather than raising the minimum wage, a deeply held goal of many Democrats that polls well across the board. She has taken a harder-line stance on the border than has any member of her party in a generation and has talked more prominently about owning a Glock than about combating climate change. She has not broken from President Biden on the war Israel is waging in Gaza.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, for many Americans the avatar of the progressive movement, has campaigned aggressively for Ms. Harris across several battleground states. But he said in an interview that he had been alarmed by the number of working-class voters who were asking what Ms. Harris would do for them on issues like raising wages or allowing Medicare to cover dental care.
“They want to hear her to be more aggressive in making it clear that she’s going to stand up for the working class of this country,” Mr. Sanders said. “You lose the working class, I don’t know how you win an election.”
