Should Kamala Harris embrace Lina Khan? Democrats are split, and some worry it will cost her

From a tight Senate race in Arizona to congressional contests in Texas and Illinois, Democratic candidates are wrapping their arms around Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. But one candidate is keeping Khan at arm’s length. Vice President Kamala Harris has declined to appear with Khan or campaign on her energetic antitrust agenda — much less defend the FTC chair against a chorus of Silicon Valley donors calling for her head, or Khan’s GOP critics on Capitol Hill. Khan’s aggressive push to unwind monopolies and break up market concentration, particularly in the tech sector, has vaulted her to a prominence rarely enjoyed by an FTC chair or other agency heads. But it’s also splitting the Democratic Party on both substance and tactics in the final days of the presidential campaign. Wealthy Harris supporters, including billionaire tech investor Mark Cuban and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, have waged a high-volume campaign against Khan in the hope that Harris will fire her — and in the process, signal that her administration will take a more business-friendly bent than President Joe Biden’s. At the same time, a growing group of progressives see Khan’s fight against corporate power as a clear winning issue in a populist moment. And they’re warning that Harris’ failure to embrace Khan — and by extension, the agenda for which she’s become the figurehead — could cost her crucial votes.