Barnini Chakraborty of the Washington Examiner highlights a key element of Kamala Harris’ campaign message.
Vice President Kamala Harris may be running as America’s “top cop” against former President Donald Trump, but her prosecutorial past is complicated, at best, and littered with land mines.
Harris has framed her potential matchup with Trump as a tough prosecutor running against a greedy criminal.
“I took on perpetrators of all kinds, predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own game,” Harris said at a Wisconsin rally. “So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type.”
But there’s a lot to unpack when it comes to Harris, her background, allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, and flip-flopping on issues.
Harris rose through the prosecutorial ranks. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco, California’s attorney general, and vice president of the United States. Today, she’s on the cusp of securing the Democratic nomination for president.
“During Harris’ runs for California attorney general and U.S. Senate, I saw firsthand what kind of candidate she can be: tough, formidable, disciplined,” wrote Dan Morain, author of Kamala’s Way: An American Life.
“Without a doubt, Republicans should wish they had stopped her when they had their best chance,” he said.
Harris’s opinions and actions, at times, have put her at odds with both sides of the political spectrum. To those on the Right, she wasn’t tough enough. To those on the Left, she was too tough and didn’t do her job speaking up for marginalized communities. She’s also been accused of being a social and political climber, fixated on getting power rather than getting the job done.
“I hope her past comes back to haunt her,” California-based civil rights attorney Harmeet Dhillon told the Washington Examiner. “She has a terrible record dating from her broken promises of being a tough-on-crime district attorney.”
