Harris Bets Her Ties to Teachers’ Unions Will Help Her. Republicans Hope Otherwise.

In a speech to an ecstatic crowd of union teachers on Thursday in Houston, Vice President Kamala Harris previewed the education issues that she wants to focus on in her abbreviated campaign for the White House: student loan forgiveness, protecting schools from gun violence and resisting Republican attempts to restrict curriculums.

“While you teach students about our nation’s past, these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history,” she said to applause and cheers. “Including book bans. Book bans in this year of our Lord 2024!”

But Ms. Harris’s speech to members of the American Federation of Teachers also ignored several crucial education issues that could put her on shakier political ground — and that Republicans are already seeking to tie her to.

There was no mention of the long-term negative effects of pandemic-era school closures, which local teachers’ unions pushed to extend. She did not address whether families should have greater access to charter schools, private-school vouchers or public funds for home-schooling — all options that the unions argue reduce funds for traditional public schools.

Nor did Ms. Harris mention debates over antisemitism and free speech on college campuses, a topic that consumed Washington this spring, as Republicans brought college presidents and school district leaders from politically liberal regions to testify before Congress about their approach to student unrest related to the Israel-Hamas war.