WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris struggled to outline herself when she ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
The get together’s base was demanding that candidates assist Bernie Sanders’ single-payer well being care plan, and the power amongst many activists centered on discriminatory policing practices and insurance policies following the deaths of George Floyd and different women and men in encounters with police. Harris’ views on these points appeared to maneuver together with these of the grassroots, however she typically confronted questions from the left about her degree of conviction.
The place Harris is on the ideological spectrum has lengthy been laborious to pinpoint. After Joe Biden chosen her as his operating mate in 2020, she moved towards the middle on some points, and has usually stored these positions since taking Biden’s place atop the ticket on this yr’s election.
Harris has not defined a lot of her shifts. They could assist her amongst average voters within the common election, however they’ve left her open to criticism from the appropriate.
Listed here are some points on which her stance has modified:
Fracking
What she mentioned then: “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.” (in 2019)
What she says now: “I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States.” (in 2024)
The difficulty: Fracking is the injection of water or different substances into the bottom to ease the extraction of pure gasoline or oil. Critics say the environmental results — groundwater contamination, air air pollution and even seismic exercise — could be devastating. The trade says fracking could be completed responsibly and safely and that securing pure gasoline can scale back dependence on coal.
The change: When Harris was operating for president in 2019, a local weather activist requested throughout a CNN city corridor whether or not she would decide to a nationwide ban on fracking on her first day in workplace as president. That’s when Harris mentioned she supported a ban — a remark now typically cited by former President Trump. Harris added, “We have to just acknowledge that the residual impact of fracking is enormous in terms of the impact on the health and safety of communities.”
Harris made her “I will not ban fracking” remark throughout her Sept. 10 debate with Trump. She says she has not supported a fracking ban since 2020, the yr she turned Joe Biden’s vice presidential operating mate after ending her first presidential run in 2019.
When requested about her place, Harris has mentioned, “My values have not changed.” She has not expounded on the remark, however has appeared to counsel that fracking can proceed as a result of different efforts may help clear up or protect the atmosphere.
Political implications: Pennsylvania, a swing state with 19 electoral school votes, is essential to successful the White Home. Jessie Bluedorn, a New York Metropolis local weather activist who requested Harris about fracking in 2019, mentioned her household lived in western Pennsylvania, the place fracking has turn out to be a standard observe. The poisonous results of fracking, Bluedorn mentioned, are “immense, from contaminated groundwater to poisonous emissions.”
The problem for Harris is to gauge whether or not assist or opposition to fracking will assist her most in Pennsylvania. Over the previous few a long time, there was a increase in power assets extraction there, creating jobs and giving a lift to the commonwealth’s financial system.
Border safety
What she mentioned then: “An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.” (in 2017)
What she says now: “We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally. And there should be [a] consequence.” (in 2024)
The difficulty: Border arrests hit a document excessive in December 2023 with almost 250,000 encounters. They declined to fewer than 60,000 in July and August, following an announcement by the Biden administration in June that it might implement new asylum restrictions.
Along with her function as vp, Harris was tapped in 2021 to sort out the “root causes” of migration from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador by working to enhance financial and safety situations in these nations.
Being in the US illegally is a civil violation, not against the law. However individuals who cross the border illegally are sometimes referred for legal prosecution.
Some Democrats have advocated for decriminalizing the border and limiting the Justice Division’s potential to make legal referrals in such circumstances. That motion gained traction in late 2017 after the Trump administration stepped up legal prosecutions as a part of a household separation coverage by which youngsters have been positioned beneath Division of Well being and Human Providers custody.
The change: Harris, as a Democratic senator representing California, spoke out in a February 2017 flooring speech towards Trump’s order banning immigrants from Muslim-majority nations, emphasizing that “an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.” As a presidential candidate in 2019, she supported decriminalization.
Harris has shifted her rhetoric since then, telling CNN in an Aug. 29 interview that “there should be [a] consequence” to crossing illegally, however not spelling out any penalties. On a coverage degree, she has made her assist for what she calls the “toughest border control bill in decades” a centerpiece of her marketing campaign. The bipartisan invoice, killed by Republicans in Congress in February at Trump’s urging, would add 1,500 border brokers and different assets aimed toward stopping gangs and smugglers.
Political implications: Immigration has been Trump’s motivating difficulty since he entered politics — and has been a major vulnerability for Harris, even amid steep declines in border arrests. Trump had his greatest lead over Harris — 21% — on the problem of which candidate would higher safe the border and management immigration, in accordance with an NBC ballot launched Sept. 22.
The identical ballot discovered Harris main Trump considerably over who would higher shield immigrants’ rights.
The difficulty was arguably useful to Democrats in 2020, when many citizens have been upset with Trump’s household separation coverage and his ban on immigrants from Muslim-majority nations.
However the tide seems to have shifted beneath Biden, as voters noticed pictures of a border that appeared uncontrolled. Harris is unlikely to win on the problem, however is hoping to neutralize considerations amongst persuadable voters that she is going to go away the border unchecked.
Well being care
What she mentioned then: “In America, health care should be a right, not a privilege only for those who can afford it. It’s why we need ‘Medicare for All.’ ” (in 2017)
What she says now: “I absolutely support … private health care options. But what we need to do is maintain and grow the Affordable Care Act.” (in 2024)
The difficulty: Medicare for All is a common well being care program supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). It will eradicate non-public insurance coverage and place everybody on public well being care plans, just like many European nations.
The change: Harris, as a senator, co-sponsored Sanders’ Medicare for All invoice in 2017. She modified her stance in 2019, when she was operating for president, deciding on a plan that allowed non-public variations of Medicare “that adhere to strict Medicare requirements on costs and benefits” whereas placing most Individuals on a public plan. “In America, health care should be a right, not a privilege only for those who can afford it. It’s why we need Medicare for All,” she wrote on the time.
However Biden by no means supported Medicare for All as president, and Harris, after turning into vp, helped him develop the Inexpensive Care Act, extensively generally known as Obamacare. Her marketing campaign has mentioned she now not helps Medicare for All. Within the Sept. 10 debate with Trump, she emphasised her intent to “maintain and grow” Obamacare, attacking Trump for attempting to repeal it when he was president.
Political implications: Medicare for All was a defining difficulty for progressives within the 2020 Democratic main, however that’s now not the case. Obamacare, initially unpopular, has assist from greater than 60% of Individuals, in accordance with KFF monitoring polls.
Harris has tried to play offense on well being care, pointing to Trump’s opposition to Obamacare and the Biden administration’s success at increasing it and negotiating prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients.
Defunding the police
What she mentioned then: “This whole movement is about rightly saying we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities.” (in 2020)
What she says now: “The only candidate running for president who has ever advocated for defunding the police or proposed cutting funding for law enforcement is convicted felon Donald Trump.” (in 2024)
The difficulty: Through the peak of the Black Lives Matter protests, after the killing of George Floyd and different Black Individuals by the hands of regulation enforcement in 2020, many progressives argued for redirecting police assets to social applications.
The change: Harris made a number of sympathetic feedback to the defund motion in 2020, together with one on the “Ebro in the Morning” radio present by which she mentioned the motion was “rightly” reexamining municipal budgets to “figure out whether it reflects the right priorities.”
After Biden picked her as his operating mate that yr, the marketing campaign referred to as it “a lie” to counsel both Harris or Biden needed to defund the police. The 2021 COVID-19 spending invoice handed by Democrats allotted $15 billion to violence prevention and public security.
The Harris marketing campaign mentioned in a latest assertion that she doesn’t assist reducing police funds.
Political implications: Public assist for defunding police went from 45% in 2020 to 35% in 2022, in accordance with Gallup.
Although statistics present crime is down from latest highs after the pandemic lockdown, each presidential candidates have leaned into the problem. Harris has emphasised her credentials as a “tough” former prosecutor, whereas Trump has forged her as tender on crime in an “out-of-control” nation. She famous that Trump, when complaining concerning the quite a few courtroom circumstances towards him, referred to as for defunding of the Justice Division.
Obligatory gun buybacks
What she mentioned then: “I support a mandatory buyback program. It’s got to be smart; we [have] to do it the right way.” (in 2019)
What she says now: “We’re not taking anybody’s guns away.” (in 2024)
The difficulty: Many gun management advocates assist not solely a ban on promoting new assault weapons, but in addition a buyback program to take away from circulation tens of millions which have already been offered. Some need a voluntary program whereas others assist one that might require homeowners to promote them to the federal government.
The change: Harris mentioned a number of instances through the 2020 marketing campaign, together with at a 2019 gun security discussion board on MSNBC in Las Vegas, that she revered the 2nd Modification, however that an assault weapon is “a weapon of war” that’s “designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly” and wanted to be taken off the road. “I support a mandatory buyback program,” she mentioned.
Her marketing campaign has since mentioned she now not favors a compulsory buyback, and he or she mentioned throughout her debate with Trump that she is a gun proprietor who’s “not taking anybody’s guns away.”
Political implications: Banning assault weapons is usually fashionable, in accordance with polls. However most politicians who advocate a ban have emphasised that buybacks could be voluntary to keep away from accusations that they need “to confiscate your guns,” as Trump mentioned of Harris through the debate.
Harris favors stricter gun legal guidelines, however is cautious of alarming hunters within the important battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Instances workers author Steve Padilla contributed to this report.
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