Colin Winnette

Because Harris is the candidate pointed toward a future I am most excited to live in

When the Harris-Walz campaign took root, I experienced a profound surge of hope—not because Harris is flawless, but because she is the candidate pointed toward a future I am most excited to live in, rather than one who looks back at brutal, dehumanizing times and calls them “great” and runs on hate, violence, and misinformation.

When I’m choosing a candidate to vote for, I don’t ask which of them holds all of the same beliefs and principles I do. If I did, I likely wouldn’t vote, which would effectively mean ceding ground to the party I disagree with more. Instead, I look for candidates I have fundamental alignments with, and who, I feel, I can spend the next four years effectively pressuring and, when necessary, protesting. Presidents are not kings or queens chosen by God to rule unquestioned. They are public servants trying to serve the will of the people. And this is a very divided country with a profoundly strong will. Disagreement comes with the territory, and, I believe, is a necessary component of any functioning democracy.

However, after witnessing the disturbing consequences of the 2016 election, and, even worse, the violence that erupted in the wake of Trump’s decisive loss in 2020, I fear for the fate of our American democracy should our country make the same mistake twice. As he’s said himself, “I’ve gotten worse.” Not only have I no fundamental alignments with Trump—for example, I believe in every human’s innate right to make decisions about their own body and that no president or former president should be above the law—but you and I have also seen firsthand the punitive and violent consequences of healthy disagreement under his rule. He is not pointed toward a future that excites me, but one that terrifies me.

I am voting for Kamala Harris because she will allow this country to move on and evolve. She wants to make American lives easier, freer, and more accepting. To me, that’s hope. No candidate alone can make a perfect world—but she will offer us an environment where the American project can healthily improve instead of allowing someone a second opportunity to feed its rapid decline.

Colin Winnette is the author of the novel Users.