If I could vote in the American election I would back Harris, says Varadkar

Leo Varadkar, the former taoiseach, had said he would vote if he could for Kamala Harris, the democratic US presidential candidate, and Tim Walz, her running mate, in the upcoming US election because “their platforms and policies are more in line” with his beliefs than those of Donald Trump.
The Fine Gael TD was invited to last week’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) by Nancy Pelosi, the US representative and former House Speaker, last April, during her visit to Ireland.
Speaking from Chicago, Varadkar, 45, said: “It was a great opportunity because I’m a bit of a US political anorak, I’ve been watching them on TV since I was a teenager. It was great to be there in person and also renew the contacts I’ve made in my ministerial role and as taoiseach.”
He described the convention as “a great event” and “incomparable” in scale to the likes of an Ard Fheis or a European political conference. While the speakers were on the event schedule, the appearances of celebrity performers like Lil John, the Georgian rapper and Pink, the pop artist, were surprising. Varadkar said: “They like to add in these surprise guests, there were rumours going around that Beyoncé or Taylor Swift might make an appearance and I think Pink and Oprah were billed quite late. Oprah’s speech was great.
“It was exciting because obviously they’re nominating a new candidate but also because the last few weeks have been pretty dramatic.”
Comparing his experience to what he saw of the Republican National Convention (RNC) where Trump was nominated as their presidential candidate last month, Varadkar said: “I think the diversity of America was much more evident in Chicago compared to the RNC and there was a lot more energy at the DNC because they’re electing a new candidate whereas this is Trump’s third time to run.”
As taoiseach, Varadkar met Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, during two St Patrick’s day visits to Washington: “They’re very bright, very sharp people and I alwtkays felt if she had the opportunity to be herself and set her own agenda, people would like her.”
He praised Harris for her speech which he said included important elements for a European audience: “She reiterated her commitment to Ukraine, to the Atlantic Alliance and European security. What she said on Israel and Palestine could have been said by an Irish politician, I think it had a lot of empathy in it towards the Palestinian people, which you maybe don’t hear as much from American politicians. So that was encouraging.
“I don’t think it necessarily means there’ll be a massive policy shift, but I think she’ll be more mindful of the aspirations and suffering of Palestinian people.”
Varadkar also had a brief chat with Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who was confirmed as the Democrats’ vice-presidential candidate: “So I think one thing he said, which I think is significant, is that the Democrats will want to provide meals to children in school so nobody goes to school hungry, and the Republicans want to abolish the Department of Education. So the contrast in their politics is tremendous.”
On September 17, Fine Gael will hold its convention to select a candidate to replace Varadkar in Dublin West to run in the next general election: “I don’t know who will be putting themselves forward yet, but there’s certainly three potential candidates; Senator Emer Currie, councillor Siobhan Shovlin and councillor Ted Leddy who is my parliamentary assistant — I’m not sure who will go for it but, as always, the members will decide.”