Harris campaign’s co-chair stops in Omaha for small business roundtable

Omaha-area business owners speak with Vice President Kamala Harris' co-chair of her campaign, Mitch Landrieu, on Friday, Sept. 6. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

OMAHA — Mitch Landrieu, who helped implement the bipartisan infrastructure bill of 2021 that he said is sending $2.6 billion to Nebraska, stopped in the 2nd District Friday as part of his new job stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor and ex-lieutenant governor of Louisiana, is co-chair of Harris’ presidential campaign, one of President Joe Biden’s former campaign staffers who shifted to Harris when Biden chose not to run.

He held an hourlong meeting with small business owners at Kitchen Table in downtown Omaha, where he discussed Harris’ plans to help entrepreneurs get capital and tax relief.

He highlighted her proposal to increase the tax deduction for business startups to $50,000 from $5,000. He also said Harris wants to make it easier for small businesses to take the standard deduction to reduce paperwork when filing taxes.

“What makes Omaha … great are the small businesses – the people who don’t take days off, who wake up early and work late, who create jobs and build community,” Landrieu said. “Vice President Harris recognizes that.”

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State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha helped host the meeting and stressed how his district needs help to cut through red tape with state and local economic development agencies and to get funds to business owners sooner, with fewer hurdles.

He thanked Landrieu for the Biden administration’s part in $500 million in federal pandemic relief funds Nebraska aimed at east Omaha. He asked Landrieu if Harris might help get more of the money distributed, saying only $100 million had been disbursed.

Wayne and local business owner Xavier Jackson, who said his company helps connect local artists with buyers, talked about the need for more seed money for businesses to fill the gaps banks won’t.

“Someone wanted to sell me a property for about $20,000, and I had a plan to make it profitable and the projections and all that stuff,” Jackson said. “I couldn’t find anyone to give me a loan because I didn’t have the experience.”

Kitchen Table owners Jessica Duggan and her husband, Colin, discussed how Paycheck Protection Program loans helped them stay afloat during the dog days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and they credited a stabilized economy for bouncing back.

Small business owner Claudia Muñoz-Najar said she works in construction technology. She’s trying to create software to help more small contractors make more accurate estimates for construction work.

“The only people that know your cost is you,” Muñoz-Najar said. “Am I charging too low or too high? So that’s another thing that we want to help them with. It’s real money.”

The Nebraska Republican Party had no immediate comment on Landrieu’s visit. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley visited Omaha on Thursday on behalf of the RNC and former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

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